Avengers: A New Beginning
by Dakkaman777
Summary: 7 years since the Avengers split up, the world seems to be at peace. But when a new type of evil threatens to destroy the world, the world must call upon new heroes to defend it. But Carol Danvers and Peter Parker must teach these new bloods teamwork, or the consequences will be dire. An experiment of Mine. A WHOLE NEW MARVEL REBOOT, including new Avengers characters.
1. Prelude

_**Ok guys, this is perhaps the most experimental thing I've ever written. My own Marvel Reboot….ish….i suppose. Basically, what I'm trying to say if I'm not happy with how Marvel are handling their comics right now (the movies are awesome…but the comics have taken a nose dive in quality and storytelling) so What I'm doing is an experiment to see if I could do what Marvel Comics can't.**_

 _ **1 – Introduce new (Original) Avengers, that aren't just the classic Avengers given a gender or race swap.**_

 _ **2 – tell new stories, exploring battles against villains new and old.**_

 _ **3 – Explore ideas I feel could be interesting to explore.**_

 _ **4 – do it all without spitting the original content in the face.**_

 _ **Now without further ado**_

 _ **Dakkaman777 Proudly Presents:**_

 _ **Avengers: A New Beginning**_

The world had changed since they came.

Since the first time they stood together in the light, defenders of the world and all its inhabitants.

The Knight, Tony Stark

The Soldier, Steve Rogers

The Widow, Natasha Romanov

The God, Thor Odinson

The Monster, Bruce Banner

The Wolverine, Logan

The Ant, Scott Lang

The Wasp, Hope Pym

The Archer, Clint Barton

The Marvel, Carol Danvers

The Spider, Peter Parker

The Avengers.

They had saved the city and the world countless times. Whenever the city was in jeopardy they were there. For years they had battled numerous threats to the Cities of the world and even beyond the stars.

They had defeated the God of Mischief, Loki.

They prevented the invasions of the Skrull and the Kree.

They had triumphed against the Maniacal plots of Dr Doom.

They had even made a stand against the World Devourer known as Galactus.

The Avengers had faced every threat placed against them. Time and time again keeping the planet earth safe from threats that put its people in jeopardy. No matter where the threats had come from, Earth, Other worlds, the vast blackness of Space and even from the gates of the underworld, no matter the threat Earth's Mightiest heroes rose to the challenge.

But all things must come to an end.

As time went on the Avengers drifted apart.

The threats became less numerous.

The Need for the Earth's Mightiest heroes decreased by the day.

Galactus hadn't been heard from in years.

HYDRA and AIM has suffered major losses in terms of leadership with MODOK, Baron Von Strucker, Baron Zemo and the Red Skull all locked up in maximum security aboard the Raft. Naught much left than a few disgruntled grunts in hiding while their leaders rotted behind bars.

Victor Von Doom had his tussles with the Fantastic Four but he had not made a major move on seizing the world in a long time. Latveria was a country that kept to itself like it had always been, and Doom had seemingly stopped making noise to warrant attention.

Thor's departures back to Asgard became more and more frequent until one day he didn't come back.

Bruce Banner, wanting to spare the world from the Hulk's rage, exiled himself to parts unknown to live a life of peace where he could find a way to understand the Hulk.

Steve Rogers continued to fight for the freedom of the world, besides Black Widow and Hawkeye he joined SHIELD, taking the fight to smaller threats the world over.

Tony Stark continued to operate as both the Iron Man and COO of Stark Industries. Out of all the founding Avengers, his efforts to make the world a better place increased the most. Stark Industries helped countries all over the world with clean renewable energy sources, space travel efforts, and supplies to help combat hunger, disease and poverty.

Peter and Carol continued hero work, helping the world as much as they could a little at a time.

Carol had never been one to pay much attention to street level crime, thinking it was something best left for the cops. But after connecting with Peter during their time in the Avengers she found it was a cause worthy of her attention.

After all, what good is a 45 or a pump action shotgun against a man with unbreakable metallic tentacles, an Alien Symbiote or a weaponized glider and high-tech grenades?

And that brings us to the beginning of our story.

The story of how the City of New York, the United States, The World and even the Universe were given new guardians, new heroes.

New Avengers.

 **So yeah guys, this was just a prelude, next chapter we will be catching up with Peter and Carol and see how they are doing. After that each chapter will be an introduction of one of the new Avengers of this story.**

 **And Just for Continuity sake:**

 **-A lot of the large-scale events like House of M, Civil War (1 &2), Avengers Disasembled, One more Day, Fear Itself, Ragnarok etc haven't happened in this Universe. Like I said, this is a fresh start…well, actually the Death of Gwen Stacy and Secret Wars did happen (hence Venom still being a thing)**

 **\- Carol and Peter are much closer in terms of age.**

 **-Scott Lang and Hope Pym are Ant-Man and the Wasp in this universe (Hank and Janet are much more like their film counterparts, being the elderly mentors)**

 **-Other heroes like Dr Strange, Luke Cage and the Punisher operate in this universe. That goes for villains too. Ultron, Magneto, Doom and Galactus all still exist.**

 **Please let me know what you think of this idea and let me know the kind of things you are hoping to see. Please don't be Shy and leave lengthy reviews.**


	2. The Spider and The Marvel

**Well I can honestly say I haven't uploaded two chapters in such quick succession in a LONG time. This is probably because for once I wrote out 3 chapters in advance. Oh well, learning from old mistakes am I right?**

 **Enjoy.**

 **CHAPTER 1 – The Spider and The Marvel**

It had been 7 years since the Avengers had disbanded.

But New York city had stayed relatively the same. Yes, the crime rate had dropped in the years the Avengers were active, but petty criminals saw the disbanding of earth's mightiest heroes as an opportunity.

Thieves of all kinds still roamed the streets, it was unrealistic to think that all petty crime would disappear for good. Street level heroes like Daredevil, Luke Cage and Iron Fist still operated, keeping the streets as safe as they could.

But certain street level heroes still had their hands full with crime as they always had.

Speaking of which.

Swinging his way through the skyline of New York City, was none other than the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man himself, Peter Parker. He was no longer the same child, dressing up in spandex to fight crime, getting involved when he shouldn't.

He had become quite the man, now a 29-year-old with a lean, physically imposing build and a mind just as imposing. Speaking of his imposing mind, Peter had made a few adjustments to his wardrobe.

Overall his suit was the same layout, but it had definitely evolved a bit over the years. It was much flashier, much more durable and way more advanced than the rags he used to wear. The gold lining around the black spider on his chest made him feel like an Avenger.

Even after all these years.

Peter had to admit he missed it sometimes, the feeling of being a team. The feeling of having others to watch out for him, people he could count on, people he trusted, people he saw as family.

Cap and Tony were like fathers to him, to all the team.

Tony had especially gotten paternal over the years, acting as a mentor to Peter and many other Meta-Humans. To the point where Peter heard that Tony had taken on an apprentice in the recent years.

And Steve had always stood as an icon not just for superhumans, but for all the people of the world. The sight of the man in red, white and blue served as a reminder that they could overcome whatever tyranny was thrust towards them.

Bruce was like the nerdy but still cool Uncle, albeit one with anger issues.

Logan was the gruff, angry Uncle that wasn't afraid to speak his mind.

Thor was the Jock of a Big Brother, the one you never quite understood but could always count on in a fight.

Natasha was the mysterious big sister who always kept her secrets close to her chest.

Clint was the Snarky brother that Pete felt a kinship with.

Scott was the pretty laid back and optimistic brother.

Hope was the serious big sister who had no time for games.

And then there was the one member of the team he had stayed in contact with the most since the team was disbanded.

Carol Danvers, otherwise known as Ms Marvel.

Other members came and went as the years passed, but the bonds the original members formed during their inception were stronger than any formed since. Case in point.

Pete and Carol out of all the Avengers, when they first met couldn't stand each other. The only people whom had a worse relationship prior were Hulk and Logan, or Hulk and Thor…or Hulk and most people on the team for that matter.

But over time, after saving each other's asses a bunch of times, a few long and heated conversations and plenty of scolding's from Tony and Steve, the two had come to an understanding that allowed them to work together as teammates.

And from that the two of them grew closer to eventually become friends. Very close friends.

A drink between friends became dates and before either of them knew it, they were very close.

Now Pete and Carol had been going steady for the past year.

"Reminiscing, are we?" came a feminine and familiar voice.

Peter turned around to be met with the sight of his former teammate and now Girlfriend hovering in the air.

Carol Danvers, Ms Marvel, in the flesh.

Like Peter's more advanced Spider-Man suit, Carol's look had changed over the years.

She still bore the bright yellow lightning bolt insignia over her chest and the same black facemask as well as her red waist sash. But no longer did she wear the one-piece or the gloves and boots, her suit was still black but covered her entire body, eliminating the skin she showed off on her thighs and upper arms.

She had also updated the material of her suit, no longer was it simple leather, but a very advanced form of carbon fibre material, curtesy of Stark Industries. It was a very functional update to her suit, different enough to be considered an update but still retaining elements of her original look.

Her flowing, golden hair blew freely in the wind, still at her core the same Carol Danvers that was such a force to be reckoned with when the Avengers were in their prime. The same woman that could go toe to toe with Thor or the Hulk.

"And what's wrong with a little reminiscing? It's not like I have anything else to do right now" Peter replied with a chuckle.

"I find it hard coming to terms with the fact that the guy who used to be the greenest Rookie on the team even has the ability to reminisce" Carol smiled as she lowered until her feet met the ground.

"Don't tell me you never think about the good old days?" Peter smirked behind his mask as Carol sat besides him, her legs dangling over the edge.

"My God you sound like Cap" Carol smirked.

"That's a compliment in my book" Peter smiled.

"I know" Carol chuckled before leaning her head against Peter's shoulder.

"So how was your day?" Carol asked.

"Ok, couple of muggings, an attempted Car Jacker…and probably the weirdest attempt at robbing a convenience store I've ever seen" Peter snickered at the end of his sentence.

"Weird how?"

"Guy was doing the finger gun thing inside his hoodie pocket…in the end I didn't even beat him up, just webbed him to the store door and figured to let the cops handle it" Peter replied, causing Carol to chuckle.

"Well that certainly beats my day. Flying around town just hoping something interesting happens, a high-tech doom bot, a mentally deranged supervillain…anything, just something to let me cut loose" Carol sighed.

"Then why don't you help out Cap, Nat and Clint? I hear Jess is expecting you to join up with SHIELD, I mean you're into that stuff, soldier stuff, espionage, hunting down Hydra and AIM remnants?" Peter asked.

"Not many people know this Pete…but I prefer working with you these days" Carol smirked.

"Really? But I thought you wanted to fight"

"I do, but I think I have better chances getting a good scrap if I hang around with you" Carol smiled back.

It really had hit Carol hard, she hated to admit it but one of the things she loved best about being an Avenger or a Super hero in general was the big scale conflicts, the fights against foes that could match her in strength. Carol was a soldier, so it was understandable why she would miss the conflict, much like a soldier returning from a tour of duty to find peace and stability, she felt as though she had been robbed of a purpose.

Luckily for her Peter's constant encouragement and constant pleas that he needed help on patrol kept Carol from going Psychotic.

She knew Peter didn't need help on patrol, he could clean up the city's small-scale crime in a day, but it was sweet of him nonetheless.

Though Pete would be lying himself if he said he didn't miss fighting Supervillains. A lot of his own Rogue's gallery were behind bars or had disappeared for a long while. Norman Osborn being the biggest of them.

The man that had caused the death of Peter's first love, Gwen Stacy.

Peter still mourned her, but he didn't let her death infringe on his entire life. Carol had helped him come to terms with the fact it wasn't his fault.

As for Osborn, he had disappeared for a long time. every now and then Peter suspected he would make a return to try and ruin his life, but it simply never happened. The Goblin was an expert at mind games and striking when Peter least suspected it, but after this long Peter hoped he had gone for good.

Both Peter and Carol had plenty of Baggage from their lives, but they promised each other to get through it like they did years ago.

As a team.

But what Peter and Carol didn't know was that the peace they had endured for so long was merely a reprieve. Things were going to change very soon, and in a large way, a way neither of them suspected.

Forces of unknown power were working against the both of them even as they sat in each other's arms. Power unlike anything they had seen before, and very soon, they would have to confront this power.

But they would not face it alone.

 **And just in case you guys need visual aid:**

 **Peter's new costume looks like the Iron Spider suit from Avengers: Infinity War while Carol's looks like her outfit in Fear Itself. Seeing as Civil War and House of M haven't happened in this universe, Carol hasn't taken up the mantle of Captain Marvel and it still Ms Marvel.**

 **I will warn you next chapter will be pretty long. Seeing as It will be the introduction and establishment of the first of the New Avengers.**

 **As always be sure to tell me what you think, what kind of things you would like to see, tips, critiques etc. and don't be afraid to be lengthy with your reviews.**

 **Next Chapter: The Gunslinger**


	3. The Gunslinger

**Like I said everyone. This one is a doozy, very long compared to the other chapters. But it does have a lot of Content. Time to introduce you guys to the first of the New Avengers.**

 **Solo Chapter 1.**

 **CHAPTER 2: The Gunslinger**

Bright light is always looked upon as a commodity.

A nice bright sunny day is a good treat to wake up to.

Sunlight helps you get a nice tan.

Torches help you see in dark places.

Good things, right?

Not always.

Example:

When you are sat in an uncomfortable chair with your hands tied behind your back. All your weapons taken from you, wearing nothing to protect yourself from hard. Your shoulder length hair all sweaty and clinging to your face.

Blood dripping from your nose and running down the side of your mouth. Pretty sure the bastards knocked one or two of your teeth out.

Ouch…that will warrant a trip to the dentist later.

In that situation…the blinding bright light of a spotlight shining down on your face won't improve your mood.

You were bleeding, suffering from a hell of a headache, and were pretty certain you left the stove on when you left home earlier. And now you could barely see straight.

This was the situation that Len Ryder, Agent of Shield found himself in.

Things were just fucking dandy.

On a normal day, Len would have looked like a very handsome man, a bit of nine-o'clock show and shoulder length brown hair and a very exotic chase of heterochromia. His right eye was a bright sky blue while his left was a bright gold.

But right now, he was bloody and battered, one of the side effects of a very brutal interrogation.

"Just fucking tell us what we want to know and the pain stops!" came the heavily Hispanic accented voice of one of his interrogators.

Len simply felt the insides of his mouth with his tongue, feeling a loose tooth. He smiled, showing off his bloody teeth and spitting out a glob of blood. The Shield Agent took a deep sniff, clearing his sinuses and gave his reply.

"When did the pain start exactly?" Len smirked.

*TWACK!* one of the shadowy figures clocked Len once again, causing him to lose his balance and fall to the floor, taking the chair with him.

"Uh….Ok…Now we are getting somewhere. I sort of felt that one" Len chuckled against the cold floor.

" _Pick him up!"_ a second voice shouted in German.

"Oh, I'm really getting the Double A service" Len laughed as the first guy lifted him up from the ground.

"If you want to live, you will talk!" the second interrogator growled in English.

"I thought you HYDRA guys showed no mercy. If that's true, you should have broken out the real torture tools by now, where is the Rack or the Knee Splitter? Hell, I would settle for the bamboo sticks under my fingernails" Len laughed.

It was exactly what Len had expected. HYDRA had definitely fallen upon hard times, without Strucker, Zemo or the Skull to lead them they were little more than glorified thugs and Mercs. They knew how to kill a man, but when it came to gathering intel they were just thick lumps of meat.

This mission wasn't going to be as much of a pain as he thought.

*TWACK!*

"Ah! Ow….You guys really have shit hospitality you know that?" Len smirked once again. He would have winked accept one of his eyes had swollen shut from heavy bruising.

Little did the three Interrogators in the room know, that the bright light shining down on Len's face did little to cover their identities from him. He could see them clear as day.

Three males, two Caucasian, one Latin. The Latin and one Caucasian being rather rough looking hombres, big built, tattoos and dressed in all black, flak jackets. The Latin male had an elaborate snake tattoo across the left side of his face and around most of his bald head, the Caucasian male having a short brown buzzcut.

The third male looked less imposing, dressed differently, more sophisticated. With slightly longer black hair and a clean-shaven face.

"This is fucking useless, if he doesn't talk in the next five minutes I'll just put a round in his skull and be done with it" came a very authoritative voice, American accent.

' _Gotcha'_ Len thought, he had found his man.

Theodore Johnson, EX SHIELD Intelligence division, Terrorist, HYDRA Informant. To put it short, a traitor that had to answer for what he had done.

And these were the missions Len liked the most.

The SHIELD Agent scanned the three of them, looking for weaponry. Both the big guys had combat knives strapped to the left sides of their belts and had guns holstered.

" _Glock 43, black on the Hispanic, Glock 9mm Chrome with gold handle on the Caucasian…someone isn't very discrete"_ Len thought to himself as he assessed the location of their weapons.

Len could tell that Theodore didn't recognise him, if he did he would have run out of that room screaming.

"Hey, Guys. I think we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. Tell you what, cut me up a bit and I'll tell you guys whatever you want" Len smiled.

"If this fucker serious?" the German whispered.

"The stupid bastard is probably a masochist, it's no wonder he barely resisted being captured. You, start cutting parts off, I've got stuff to do" Theodore replied to the Latino before leaving the room sharpish.

' _Weak stomach eh Teddy? Well don't worry, I'll fix that soon enough"_ Len thought to himself with an internal grin.

The Hispanic interrogator unsheathed his knife and approached Len, grabbing Len's chin he held him steady.

"Don't move, I would hate to cut off the wrong pieces" he grinned.

But Len replied with a grin of his own.

"Don't worry, you won't" Len grinned before his hands shot forward, one grabbing the Glock in his belt while the other shoved the interrogator away.

Len smiled as he shot the first interrogator once in the head. When the second drew his gun, Len fired shots open the restraints around his ankles with pinpoint accuracy before leaping behind his overturned chair.

*BANG!**BANG!*BANG!* the German shot thrice, two rounds hitting the chair and one missing completely.

But after the third shot there was a loud click that Len recognised.

"Someone hasn't been looking after their weapon!" Len shouted before he tactical rolled across the floor before putting two rounds in the last man's knee caps.

"AAAAAAGH" the man yelled as both his knee caps where blown to smithereens. Dropping face down on the floor, the German's blood began to pool around him.

Len stood up, pulling the sweaty hair out of his face, wiping the blood from his nose and spitting out a glob of blood. He slowly approached the still barely alive interrogator and squatted down beside him.

"That looks like it hurts" Len smiled, gesturing to his knee caps.

"Fuck you!" the German hissed.

"I thought so. Say, where is my stuff located? You know? All the guns and equipment I brought with me?" Len smiled as he propped the man up against the wall in a sitting position.

"Why the fuck would I tell you?" He hissed.

"Because…"

*BANG!*

"I just put a bullet in your Intestines. This wound won't kill you straight away, but you'll bleed for days, your wound will fill with stomach bile, infecting the wound like crazy, you won't find a medic in hundreds of miles of this place that can fix it, and at the end of…Oh I dunno…I would say four or five days for a big man like you, you will literally start to bleed shit from your gunshot wound as you die in the slowest and most painful way possible" Len smiled.

The HYDRA thug's eyes were wide in panic and fear at the prospect of it. Dying from a Gutshot was a notoriously painful way to die. Certainly, no way for a soldier to die.

"Or I can make it quick and painless" Len dangled his Glock in front of him.

"Your gear is in the main barracks, floor 7, room 6" he admitted as Len pointed the Glock between his eyes.

*CLICK*

"Oh, whoops…I forgot, I'm out of ammo. 6 shot capacity for 43's" Len stood up and walked to the door.

"Wait! You said you would make it quick!" The German shouted.

"Yeah, I did…the thing is…I don't exactly the believe you. Who the fuck keeps an Enemies' equipment in the Barracks? Do you think I'm an idiot?" Len raised a brow as if insulted before opening the door.

"No, Please, WAIT!" he borderline screamed, stopping Len in his tracks.

"Where?" Len growled.

"…Floor 8….room 9" he whimpered, defeated.

Len turned to the Dead thug, reaching into his belt, pulling free and extra ammo clip. Within a few seconds Len had reloaded and walked over to the still living HYDRA thug.

"Thank you" Len replied before pointing the Glock at the Thug.

*BANG!* quick and painless.

Right between the eyes.

Just as Len said.

Before leaving the room, Len retrieved one of the combat knives from the thugs and another clip of ammo. The trail leading towards his gear was going to have a few more bodies littering it.

Rounding every corner, he could, Len knew it was only going to be a matter of time until other HYDRA goons found the bodies in his interrogation room. So, stealth was still a viable option right now.

But the moment that alarm sounded, his cover would be blown. These HYDRA shits would be searching under every rock for him, and stealth under those conditions was not exactly his forte.

The man wasn't Black Widow.

Around every other corner, there were armed HYDRA soldiers, wearing full body armour, wielding machine guns. Well-armed by early 21st century military standards, but not by the standards of HYDRA in the past.

HYDRA certainly didn't dress their men in the same silly green and yellow bodysuits they used to. HYDRA was little more than a group of glorified Mercs, Hitmen and Spies that were way past their prime.

Len found it funny that these guys used to be a threat to both SHIELD and the world, considering how far they had fallen.

It didn't take long for Len to locate the Elevator, his only way to the floor locating his gear. But unfortunately, there was a group of fully armed guards, all heavily armed with fully automatic weaponry.

And since Len didn't have any of his gear on hand, just a pistol with two clips and a combat knife. He didn't fancy his chances, especially with one eye swollen shut and one hell of a headache.

If he had both eyes, that would be a different story.

Len then looked at the sharpness of his combat knife, it was pretty sharp…it could work. Len looked around a few more corners, looking for a restroom, anywhere with running hot water. Eventually he found it.

The restroom of course was large, since it had to cater for a large number of people. After checking to make sure any of the stalls weren't occupied, Len laid his gun by the side of the sink and held the combat knife under a hot tap.

" _I Can't believe I'm even attempting this"_ Len thought to himself as he brought the knife up to his face and proceeded to slice around his swollen black eye.

Len could see himself regretting this, releasing the blood pressure with a cut would usually do more harm than good.

But this was a situation that called for it.

Blood seeped from the wound at a very fast pace and soon Len could open his other eye. Seeing both his mismatched coloured eyes in the mirror put a smile on the Agent's face. Splashing some cold water into his face, Len took a deep breath before his face went serious.

He cracked his neck to the side and cocked his Glock.

"Show Time"

* * *

There were close to ten HYDRA soldiers, all guarding the elevator. Every one of them wore SWAT gear, bulletproof vests, helmets the whole nine yards.

"So, you hear about the Agent?"

"You mean the one that just waltzed into our territory with his arms above his head?"

"Yeah, I thought SHIELD knew how to pick their agents better than that. I was expecting our first stand-off to be with the Captain, Barnes or even that traitor Romanov"

"Things might just be going our way. We've been on the run for years, it might just about be time for us to take charge and hit back"

"Well you heard what Johnson said, there are other small forces of ours all over the planet, all we need is the right thing to unite us all and hit back at SHIELD with one big counter offensive"

"Yeah right, that fucking weasel doesn't know the first thing about combat, I'll listen to Madam HYDRA when she finally reorganizes us"

"Is she still even alive? We haven't heard from her or any of the high commanders for a year at least, we might be all that's left of HYDRA"

"Well, that makes my job easier"

*BANG!*

"AAAAAAGH!"

One HYDRA soldier fell to one knee as the other was blown to smithereens. Sprinting from the corner, Len used the fallen Soldier as a platform to leapt up and deliver a flying knee right into the face of the nearest Soldier.

The man fell to the ground and was planted there by Len's boot.

Both of Len's eyes flashed for an instant in real time.

Time slowed in Len's point of view as he scanned each and every one of the HYDRA soldiers.

Ten men.

Full auto weapons.

Caught off guard.

Bulletproof chest wear.

Two Incapacitated.

One grievously wounded.

Mental state: Shock.

Probability to makes mistakes: High.

Show no mercy.

Len's assault was brutal and he gave no quarter to any of his opponents. He drew his combat knife and brutally sliced open the throat of the man below him in a reverse grip, before he threw it into the throat of the nearest man.

2 dead, 8 alive.

Leaping to the next soldier, Len pointed his Glock, point blank into the exposed eye of his enemy and pulled the trigger.

*BANG!*

3 dead, 7 alive.

When the soldier went limp, Len grabbed his assault rifle and used him like a human shield. Spraying rounds into the remaining men. This resulted in a combination of body shots, which most definitely hurt and a few bodily injuries like shots to their less armoured arms and legs.

Throwing the body to the ground, Len rushed the remaining men. His sprint turned into a baseball slide, where Len scored another headshot on a soldier, clutching a bleeding knee.

*BANG!*

4 dead, 6 alive.

Len stopped his baseball slide, quickly returning to his feet where he grabbed one of the disorientated soldiers, bent him down and kneed him in the face. The soldier jolted back, and Len grabbed one of his arms, leaping upwards to catch him in an arm bar.

Using his weight, Len dropped the soldier to the floor, catching the soldier in a Ju Jitsu style armbar. Using his leverage, he raised the soldier's head and fired two point-blank shots through his eyes, into his brain.

*BANG!BANG!*

6 dead, 4 alive.

Len dropped the body, kipping up onto his feet in a split second. He fired his remaining shot at another soldier, disorientating him. Len quickly closed the distance and took the soldier's combat knife, ramming it into his stomach and quickly withdrawing it.

With a strong kick to the gut, the soldier fell to his knees clutching his gut. Len sliced the strap keeping the assault rifle attached to the soldier and jumped off of the soldier like a trampoline.

Leaping into the air, Len caught the next man off guard in a flying head scissors, using his weight to throw the man to the floor while a ragdoll. Len, they sprayed a few rounds of the assault rifle into the man's face, killing him for sure.

7 dead, 3 alive.

There were 3 left alive, the man clutching his gut, the first man with the blown-out knee, and a solider that seemed to have gotten over the earlier effects of shock and surprise. The solider raised his assault rifle and fired, full auto at Len.

Len tactical rolled past the man clutching his gut, letting his ally kill him with reckless gunfire.

8 dead, 2 alive.

Then Len quickly ejected the empty magazine of his Glock and hurled it at the soldier, hitting him square in the face.

When the man recoiled, Len sprinted, keeping low to the floor to close the distance and make himself less of a target. When close enough, Len cut the strap keeping the assault rifle within reach and tried to pull it from the soldier's grasp. But this soldier wasn't as slow as the other and both he and Len were caught in a game of tug of war for the rifle.

Len grunted as he struggled before he planted the knife right into the neck of the soldier he was struggling with. When Len withdrew there was a spurt of blood, all over his face and in a anger filled fury he just began recklessly stabbing him in the same place over and over again.

More and more crimson liquid sprayed into Len's face, covering him with blood as the solider fell to the floor, clutching his multiple knife wounds. Len quickly reloaded another magazine into his Glock and fired two shots into the Soldier, one in his throat, one in his eye.

*BANG!BANG!*

9 dead, 1 alive.

Len's eyes flashed again. His rush of adrenaline seemingly halted.

That left the first man, clutching his blown-out knee. Len barely even look at him as he walked past the soldier, taking off his helmet, throwing it to the floor and putting two rounds in his skull.

*BANG!BANG!*

10 dead.

Len walked to the elevator, leaving a ground now turned red with the blood of the men he had just brutally killed without sustaining any further injury to himself. Any bystander watching would have experienced this massacre in the course of a few quick seconds.

Len's combination of quick thinking, his lightning fast reflexes and ability to adapt in the blink of any eye would have been terrifying to witness. His reflexes would have seemed downright unnatural to any normal person and almost impossible to any expert in Human reflex capability.

So, it shouldn't have come as any surprise to anyone, when it was considered that Len was not a regular human, but was a member of the Mutant race.

Len's Mutant ability wasn't obvious to those who didn't know it's nature, his eyes were where his true Mutant abilities lay.

His right eye had an effect on his brain's chemistry, making it seem like time slowed to a halt in his perspective, giving him time to plan out his attacks ahead of time.

His left eye was like an advanced targeting system, he could predict his enemies' actions and movements down to a T. It also gave him better than perfect vision, able to see further than most birds of prey. This meant he could be twice as accurate with a rifle as a trained sniper, only he required no scope and less time to line up the shot.

The combination of his eyes abilities, his natural ability to analyse enemies, his lightning fast reflexes and superhuman vision had earned him a codename amongst SHIELD.

Len Ryder, AKA DeadEye.

Yes, Len's abilities made him a name to be feared to all enemies of SHIELD. One would think that his perspective time stopping ability would make him night unstoppable in a fight, but you would be wrong.

There were three downsides to this perspective time slowing ability:

1 – From his POV, this time slow would last 10 second maximum before it started to become painful, the longer he held it after 10 seconds the more damage it would do to him. A blur in his vision would become a headache, that would become a migraine, that would become internal haemorrhaging that if he left it even longer could risk putting him in a coma if not killing him outright.

2 – His eyes always flashed when he went into this state, so anyone that knew of this ability had a warning that he was plotting a course of attack.

3 – His time stop didn't increase his reaction time, he was still limited by the constraints of his body.

These however were not the thoughts coursing through Len's mind as he reloaded one more clip into his Glock and stepped into the elevator. Pinching the bridge of his nose hard and squeezing his eyes closed, Len let out a pained groan.

"15 seconds…Fucking hell" Len grunted under his breath as the elevator came to life and shut its doors.

* * *

Once Len had reached halfway on the elevator he heard the Alarm Claxon sounding off. By now, every single HYDRA Agent, soldier, goon and thug in the base knew he had broken free. And pretty soon they would be on his ass like flies on a rotting carcass.

But he wasn't worried about that, not with his equipment within arm's reach.

Soon the elevator screeched to a halt, and the door slowly opened. Luckily for Len, there were no guards posted on this floor. lucky for him they must have been too understaffed to have guards all over the place.

But with the alarm sounding it wouldn't be soon until they did.

Floor 8: Armoury reached.

Room 9…shouldn't be too far.

Len kept his Glock up, tactical style as he cautiously made his way down the halls. Hugging the walls at every corner, Len couldn't afford to throw all caution to the wind.

After all, he didn't want to risk a bullet to the head.

That would have really put a damper on his day.

So, it was understandable that when Len found his way to Room 9, he breathed a sigh of relief.

That was…until he saw the handprint scanner.

"Fucking bio-metrics…figures" Len cursed under his breath.

" _Sucks huh?"_ a synthesized voice asked from behind him.

Len slowly turned to come face to face with a humanoid figure, head to toe in specialized, custom body armour. The HYDRA insignia on his shoulder, a futuristic gas mask covering their face and a loaded Dessert Eagle .50 pointed at his face.

Just what he didn't want to see.

A HYDRA Agent.

Even with the shit condition HYDRA were in these days, one thing had definitely improved. Their Agents had become much deadlier with the constant threat of running into highly SHIELD Agents. So now HYDRA Agents were less like goons and acted more like actual elite fighters.

And right now, one of those elite fighters had a gun pointed at Len's face.

" _Drop the gun and get on your knees"_ The Agent ordered.

"Oh really? In that order?" Len asked.

His eyes flashed

Dessert Eagle .50 – heavy handgun, easy to disarm.

Combat knife in belt – potential problem.

Combat armour – Glock fire power insufficient.

Agent Handprint – Required for access to Equipment.

Solution – Hand to Hand.

and with the highly tuned reflexes of a cat, Len roundhouse kicked the Dessert Eagle from the hands of the Agent. The Agent however quickly reacted by reaching for the combat knife in his belt.

Len lunged forward, grabbing the Agent's wrist with one hand and wrapping his other around his throat. The Agent and Len struggled against one another, but their struggle was soon broken when Len kicked the Agent into a nearby wall.

Len closed the distance with a knee to the Agent's gut and a powerful punch to the face. Grabbing the back of the Agent's mask, Len attempted to tear it from his face.

The Agent pulled back and the two were caught in a struggle of strength, Len twisting in place so that he and the agent had their backs to each other. Len caught site of the Dessert Eagle, and smiled, from his position if he put all his weight into pulling the mask, the Agent had one of two choices.

Let Len pull their mask off or get suffocated by the full weight of a full grown man pulling down on the straps around their neck.

It was no surprise when they chose the latter.

The mask was yanked off and the Agent fell to the floor, spluttering and coughing.

Len made a Bee line for the Dessert Eagle, grabbing the fire arm, cocking it and swerving around to point it at the Agent.

That's when he notices the sound of the Agent's coughs. They were Feminine, and very familiar.

The short black hair, pale white skin and cold blue eyes were definite indicators.

"Well, well, well…fancy seeing you here Olivia" Len smiled.

"Ryder…You fucking dickhead" Olivia spat at the floor.

"Charming" Len sighed, keeping the gun trained at her.

Oliva Brown, EX Agent of SHIELD, currently in the employ of HYDRA. But to put it simply in Len's terms, a fucking traitor.

"Still, skulking around dark corners like the broody bitch you are?"

"Still taking Fury's orders like a trained lap dog?"

"Easy there, Honey. I'm the one holding the gun here" Len said, pointing towards the door's security scanner with his other hand.

"The door if you please?" Len asked.

"Go fuck yourself"

*BANG!*

"AAAAAAGH! FUCKING PRICK!" Olivia screamed as Len shot her in the right shoulder, crimson red now dripping freely from the wound.

"I'll ask again. Open the door, Skank" Len grinned.

"Gabe must be the one that got the manners" Olivia grunted.

That changed the look on Len's face immediately.

"Open the fucking door or I rearrange your face with the next one" Len reminded coldly, cocking the pistol. The humour, sarcasm and banter disappearing from his voice, and his grin replaced with a cold scowl full of murderous intent.

Olivia could tell that he meant it. She hobbled over to the door, removed one of her gloves and pressed her hand against the Biometric scanner.

"Takes a lot of guts to point a shoot a lady like that"

"Oh, don't give me that shit. You aren't a fucking lady, you are manipulating tramp that's lucky she is still breathing" Len growled, pressing the tip of the gun against the back of her head.

*Beep*

With a metallic clank the locks to the armoury door opened, and the pathway to Len's completion of his mission was opened along with it. But the metallic clank of the armoury door opening wasn't the only sound that Len heard.

He heard the elevator he came on power up and descend.

"Dumbass" Olivia smirked.

"You sent out a message to the rest, didn't you?" Len asked rhetorically.

"As soon as you got off that elevator" she snickered.

*TWACK!*

Len clocked Olivia around the back of head with the pistol, knowing her unconscious and sending her tumbling to the ground.

"You are so lucky that he likes you" Len scowled at the unconscious HYDRA Agent.

Len grabbed Olivia by one of her legs and dragged her unceremoniously away from the door before entering the armoury and locking it behind him.

How did he lock it behind him you ask?

He shot it, that's how.

Starting to see a pattern in how Len solved his problems?

Once Len had entered the Armoury, he felt like he had entered heaven. At this point in the story, it would be pretty fair to assume Len was a Gun Nut.

And those assumptions would be absolutely right.

Len's eyes lit up several times as he simply took in the rows and rows of assault rifles, both Semi and Fully Automatic. Shotguns both 12 gauge and Combat, pistols of all shapes and sizes, Grenades, C4 charges, Plastic Explosives. Grenade Launchers, Sniper Rifles, and all sorts of Ammo magazines and cartridges to fit them.

It was the biggest dream of a Gun Nut come true. But those thoughts were dwarfed by the joy that came into Len's mind when he saw what he was looking for.

The specialized combat equipment of Agent DeadEye.

"Oh, come to Papa"

Len smiled and began to suit up and arm himself.

* * *

The doors to the elevator opened, revealing dozens of heavily armed HYDRA soldiers and 5 Agents in the same gear that Olivia wore.

After the soldiers and Agents left the elevator, it was immediately sent back down again. There was no doubt more Soldiers and Agents waiting in the lower floors.

* * *

Len strapped the chest piece onto his torso, connecting all the clips that sealed both the chest and back segment in place. The armour plates shifting as Len moved, almost like the armour was a secondary skin, judging by its design, it closely resembled the pectoral and abdominal muscles of a human male.

He started next with the gauntlets. Armour wrist-guards that extended to his hands and the outside of his fingers. They resembled the basic design of gauntlets that a Samurai would wear.

The boots were easy, as where the greaves that came with them. They resembled the greaves that a European knight would wear, only they lacked a metallic sheen and were tan coloured.

The tan armour Len donned wasn't high tech on par with Stark's suits. Neither was it basic Kevlar, it was a mixture of carbon steel and carbon fibre mesh, made in a way that would greatly lessen the impact of whatever hit it while not sacrificing mobility.

Whoever had eagle eyes would also see the metallic braces that connected the gauntlets to the chest segment. Designed as a full body Recoil brace, to lessen the recoil of the guns that Len fired.

Len's Impact armour was Experimental in nature.

But to Len, Experimental was just code for 'really fucking cool'.

* * *

The hallway outside of the Armoury was soon crawling with HYDRA soldiers, fully armed and ready.

"Tear that goddam door down!" one of the Agents yelled at the others.

Soldiers began to ready their weapons, loading up fresh magazines, cocking their guns and keeping them trained on the door.

* * *

Len loaded up on ammunition.

Loading fresh clips into a pair of silver 45 Long slide pistols, that were subsequently twirled in Len's fingers before holstered at the back of his waist.

Len inspected the cold, sharp edge of his carbon steel combat knife before sheathing it in his boot.

Loading shells into a Lever action shotgun. The shotgun had an ammo belt tied around its stock, emblazed on leather were the Initials G.R. The Shotgun was holstered onto his back.

Loading new bullets into a pair of modified Smith and Wesson 500 Magnum Revolvers. The Revolvers had been modified for a bulkier design around the barrel and also fitted to fire armour piercing rounds. These guns in particular were very near and dear to Len's heart as his Initials L.R. were emblazed onto their handles. They were then holstered at the sides of his waist.

Len then loaded a clip of ammunition into a very strange looking handgun. It was way bulkier than any handgun a regular person would have seen, it had the same loading mechanism as a machine gun like an M16, the ammo cartridge was inserted in front of the handle and trigger. The grip itself was more shaped like a revolver grip rather than a Glock grip. A lot of the pistol was painted red and had a white design or a Skeletal Dragon flying down the barrel towards whoever he targets was.

A specially made fire arm of Len's own design, he called it 'The Dragonmaw'. A pistol designed to have firing power that put most sniper rifles to shame. One shot from the Dragonmaw could put a hole through two layers of tank armour.

Len cocked back the sliding mechanism of the Dragonmaw and smiled before twirling it and holstering it underneath his left arm.

All of Len's personnel firearms were modified to increase their efficiency in combat, and the damage they could inflict on their targets.

* * *

The HYDRA soldiers kept their guns trained on the door as their comrades cut through the door frame with their bolt cutters.

About 6 Agents stood outside with their own side-arms at the ready.

The door couldn't keep them out forever.

* * *

Len picked up a large piece of red and white patterned material and draped it around his shoulders after putting his head through it. Once wearing it, anyone would have recognised it as a Poncho. Len smiled at this little number, he had always loved westerns, it only figured he would be emulating his hero Clint Eastwood.

The Poncho Len wore was woven out of Kevlar, it didn't protect him per say, but he wore it for style. The Kevlar design was to protect it from damage, he would have hated to keep getting replacements.

Len picked up the last piece of his outfit: his specialized Helmet. It was made of the same carbon steel and fibre mesh that the rest of his armour was. The design was sleek and streamlined, not at all clunky nor did it leave any of his head exposed.

Len clicked something on the interior of the helmet causing its armour plates to disconnect from each other, making it easier to put on. Once his helmet was secure on his head, its armour plates retracted and sealed itself.

The eye pieces lit up blue, the helmet's interior systems coming to life.

Len walked over to a weapon rack, picking up a single barrel grenade launcher and loading it with a single round.

A Bandolier full of grenade rounds was flung around Len's chest.

Len picked up a pair of loaded M-16's and flung their straps over his shoulders.

Holding up the grenade Launcher, Len looked to the door. Fully armed, ready to take on an army the SHIELD Agent grunted in a synthesized voice.

" _Party Time!"_

* * *

"Ready men! Fire only when you have a confirmed shot. Aim for the head and don't hesitate to go for the kill shot!" the commanding officer barked at the top of his voice.

The HYDRA soldiers kept their guns trained, focused and ready for anything.

Well…

*KABOOOM!*

Anything but a pissed off mutant with a grenade launcher.

The door was blown off its hinges in a fiery explosion. Rock and rubble scattering everywhere in a mist that blinded anyone that wasn't blown off their feet and onto their ass by the force of the blast. The men who were cutting through the door with bolt cutters were instantly killed by the combination of the force, the flames and the impact of having a solid steel door crush them into the nearest wall.

Len slowly walked out of the mist, the eyepieces of his helmet glowing blue as he loaded up another grenade round into the launcher.

Len fired the Grenade launcher into the hallway to the left of him.

With another fiery explosion, the Soldiers and Agents hiding around the corner were blown to pieces.

Len sheathed the Grenade Launcher on his back next to his shotgun. He then proceeded to take up his M-16's and smile behind his helmet.

Len then proceeded to spray the surviving HYDRA soldiers with a hail of machine gun fire. The combat armour the HYDRA soldiers wore did little to help them against the relentless assault of Len's twin machine guns.

After half a minute of full automatic gunfire, Len stopped, only after he realized he had spent both clips in his respective M-16's.

And the fact he had turned the assault force into mincemeat.

All except one guy, who Len had only saw fit to blow his legs into meaty chunks.

"Y-Y-You Motherfucker!" He screamed with his eyes squeezed close.

Len stepped forward and threw one of the M-16's onto the floor before bending over and pulling a fresh ammo clip from the man's belt. With a satisfying click, Len loaded up his M-16.

" _Where is Theodore?"_ Len asked in his synthetic voice, adding to his intimidation factor.

"Who!?" the soldier asked.

Len took out his knife and starting digging around the man's leg stumps.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH! FUCK! FINE! I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT, I'LL TELL YOU WHAT YOU WAAANT!" the man's cries devolved into sobs.

" _Where?"_ Len asked.

"Floor 3, the barracks! He thought he could wait out the assault there!" The man cried. The way he was crying out in absolute pain and terror convinced Len that he was telling the truth, when you were in that much pain it was hard to make up a convincing lie on the spot.

" _Thanks"_ Len thanked the man before pointing his M-16 at the soldier's head and before the man could even protest.

*BANG!*

Len stood up, turned and began to walk towards the elevator, he had a date with a traitor.

* * *

Saying that Theodore was scared shitless would have been a moot point at the present time. The man was scared, shaking inside a room under armed guard. The alarm was blaring loud, alerting everyone to what was obvious.

6 fully armed HYDRA Soldiers with automatic weapons, and 3 Agents in full combat gear.

The Barracks had been turned into a makeshift defensible position. The bunks and tables overturned and used like barricades. Soldiers propping their weapons on the edges of the barricades.

"Don't worry sir, the Chopper will be arriving soon to pick you up" one HYDRA Agent tried to comfort the shaking man.

"It had better, Madam Hydra needs what I have in my mind dammit. You can't let me fall into the hands of SHIELD" Theodore begged.

*KNOCK!**KNOCK!**KNOCK!*

All eyes turned to the steel door.

" _Pizza delivery for a Mr Shitsack"_ Len shouted before the door slammed open.

The sound of heavy fire echoed throughout the room as the men sprayed fully auto at the door without any regard of what was standing there. But when the firing stopped, they realized there was naught there but the body of a dead HYDRA soldier being held up by arm armoured arm.

Before they knew it, the body was thrown towards them.

It was a distraction.

Len popped out from out of the corner, his revolvers in hand and began his assault. Within a few seconds of appearing, Len fired off two shots, blowing holes into the heads of two HYDRA soldiers. Breaking out into a full sprint, Len make a Beeline for the barricades, his revolvers still in hand. The soldiers fired a hail of machine gun fire at the Agent, but their bullets did little damage to his armour.

Leaping over the barricades, Len fired with both revolvers again, putting holes in the heads of another two soldiers.

Holstering his revolvers, Len quickly drew his shotgun. Cocking the lever and blowing a round into the next soldier.

Two of the Agents and the remaining soldier leapt towards Len and tried to grapple the shotgun from his grasp. Surprisingly Len let go of the shotgun when the soldier grabbed it, he then took advantage of the man's confusion to draw one of his 45's and put a round between his eyes.

The two Agents attacking Len drew their guns and fired a few more rounds, hoping to hit him in the eyes where the helmet would be weakest. Len covered his eyes with his forearm and leapt over the barricades.

Holstering his 45, Len growled angrily before drawing the Dragonmaw.

" _Now I'm pissed"_ Len growled angrily as he cocked the Dragonmaw. A loud metallic clank sounded when the barrel cocked.

Len leapt over the barricade, a few bullets ricocheting off his armour as he did. Behind the helmet, Len's eyes flashed. Everything slowed for Len as he scanned how long it would take him to reach Theodore. Chances are he would bolt as soon as the Agents were dead.

Len pointed the Dragonmaw at the nearest agent and held it with both hands, bracing himself for the recoil.

*KABOOOOOM!*

A flash lit up the room as the Dragonmaw roared loudly. The bullet couldn't be seen, nor did it leave a hole in the Agent's head.

There was hard to be a hole when the Dragonmaw blew his head to smithereens.

Chunks of flesh, skull, teeth, eyes and brain matter splattered all over the floor as the Agent's body lifelessly dropped to its knees.

But when len went to point it at the next Agent.

*BANG!*

" _AAAGH!"_ Len fell to one knee as it felt like someone had stabbed him in the back of the leg.

Len looked around to see the other Agent had picked up his shotgun and shot a round into the back of his leg. Even though Len's thighs weren't armour plated they still had carbon fibre mesh.

But even carbon fibre mesh didn't stop the impact from hurting like hell. The impact of that shotgun blast would have broken Len's leg or seriously damage the muscle or tendons.

" _Motherfucker!"_ Len growled as he pointed the Dragonmaw at the Agent holding his shotgun.

The Agent that Len was about to shoot before being shot himself, suddenly kicked the Dragonmaw out of his hand.

*BANG!*

" _AAGH!"_ Len cried out in pain as he shot in the side of the chest. Falling onto his back, Len was pretty sure that broke a rib or two.

It was better than a gaping hole in his chest, but it still hurt like hell.

The impact armour was strong, but it didn't make him invulnerable. Even small fire arms hurt, but something like Len's modified shotgun hurt like a motherfucker.

"Hah! Haha! Ha…the famous Agent Deadeye. I thought you were supposed to be some kind of Boogieman, Fury's favourite lapdog that he would sent to put someone down" Theodore laughed as he stood up, now confident with Len on the floor and in pain.

"But I'm glad to say I was wrong" Theo smiled, bending over to pick up the Dragonmaw.

Len smiled behind his mask.

"Turns out, you are just like any other man. You get cut you bleed, you break a rib you fall, and if you get shot with this…you die" Theo held the Dragonmaw in one hand and pointed it at Len's head.

Len's eyes flashed and with every fibre of his strength, being and reflexes he moved his head as much to the left as he could. Any amount of distance he could make would serve to save his life.

*KABOOOM!*

"AAAGH!" Theo screamed as his entire right arm and his shoulder blade shattered under the immense recoil of the Dragonmaw pistol. His arm flopped around limp as the HYDRA informant fell to the ground screaming.

Needless to say, if a human not wearing Len's specialized Recoil Brace fired it, it could very well do as much damage to the shooter than the target.

Luckily for the Target, Len's combination of quick reflexes and his enhanced sight had saved his life. the ground where his head had been was now a sizable hole, piercing downwards until the round had met enough resistance to stop it travelling further.

Len fought against the pain and grabbed the Dragonmaw as it fell from Theo's now limp hand. Pointing the pistol at the Agent that had his shotgun, Len pulled the trigger without a moment's hesitation.

*KABOOOM!*

The Dragonmaw roared again at it blew a foot-wide hole right in the Agent's chest. The gaping chest wound bleeding profusely as the Agent dropped down dead, face first onto the floor.

The last Agent made a mad dash to Len and before he could fire another round from the Dragonmaw, kicked the pistol from his hands and wrestled him to the ground. The two Agents wrestled, the HYDRA Agent pulling out a combat knife to try and slit Len's throat.

Len struggled against the HYDRA Agent but quickly gained the upper hand when he ended up on top. Using his weight and leverage, Len quickly grabbed the HYDRA Agent's knife arm and wrestled it into an arm bar.

With a quick, strong jerk the HYDRA Agent's arm snapped. The Agent let out a yell of pain as Len drew one of his revolvers and with the Arm bar still in place, put a revolver round right through the skull of the last Agent, killing him instantly.

Len groaned as he rose to his feet, holstering his revolver and picking up the Dragonmaw. The SHIELD Agent inspected his fire arm as Theo lay on the ground, whimpering in agony. Len, happy that the Dragonmaw hadn't been damaged, holstered it and limped over to Theodore whilst holding his side.

*CRACK!*

"AAAAAGH!" Theodore screamed as Len stepped on his limp, shattered hand.

" _Yeah,_ I thought so" Len replied, his voice changing mid-sentence as he removed his helmet.

"Shooting this baby without a recoil brace…pretty dam stupid" Len said as he wiped some sweat and blood from his brow, the blood coming from the cut around his eye.

Sitting down besides Theodore, Len took a moment to catch his breath. Pinching the bridge of his nose hard and letting out a grunt of pain. Len wiped a tiny bit of blood from the side of his right eye.

"20 seconds… you have no idea how much that stings" he grunted before shaking himself off. The throbbing of his headache causing him no shortage of pain.

"I won't lie to you Theo…you fucked up. You stole secrets from the wrong people and Fury actually told me to put a couple extra rounds in you to make sure you stay dead" Len said as he pulled out one of his 45's.

Theo this entire time had his eyes squeezed shut in absolute pain as his right arm lay limp, like his bones had turned to spaghetti. Blood began to pool around him, it was no surprise, his bones being broken at the rate that they had, had probably turned them into fragmented shrapnel and shredded the insides of his arm.

The Dragonmaw was not a toy, and it punished those that acted otherwise.

Len stood up, his limp making it uncomfortable but not impossible. When fully stood he cocked his 45 and said "Now, you are going to answer some questions for me, if you don't ill make this as long and as drawn out as I can"

Theo looked at Len, his hair stuck to his sweaty face. The utter pain of his arm overpowering his body, not knowing how to react to such an injury. It was obvious Theodore didn't have long for this world. If the pain and blood loss didn't do it, then Len and his 45 certainly would.

"You don't get it do you? You think you destroyed us? That we are simply dregs of HYDRA? But beneath the surface we are preparing, you have no idea what is coming do you?" Theo grinned as sweat dripped down his face.

"What? What is coming?" Len knelt down and grabbed Theo by the scruff of the neck.

"Something beyond your power, Ryder. HYDRA still has eyes and ears in all the corners of the world. And plans have been set in motion that you have no hope of effecting alone" Theo grinned under a grimace of pain.

Len growled and yanked Theo closer, pointing the 45 on the underside of his chin.

"Does Gabriel have anything to do with this? Does he!?" Len yelled at the HYDRA informant.

"Hehehehehe, Gabriel Ryder will lead HYDRA into the future. Our resurrection is coming, and it will be built upon your lifeless corpse and the wrecks of SHIELD" Theo chuckled before his left hand shot up and squeezed the trigger of the 45.

*BANG!*

Blood splattered against Len's face as the insides of Theodore's head were propelled out of his skull by the modified handgun. Luckily for Len, if it had been the Dragonmaw it would have taken his head clean off with Theodore's.

Len wiped the blood from his face and put the 45 back in its holster. Picking up his helmet, Len just sighed.

"Mission Accomplished" He sighed before putting his helmet back on and walking out of the room.

* * *

 **Hope you guys enjoyed it. I can honestly say that writing for Len was pretty fun. Nothing quite like a bad tempered, snarky asshole with a love for guns and killing his enemies. As you can probably tell, these new Avengers aren't all going to be bright, colourful and cheerful individuals. A lot of them are very damaged people.**

 **Please let me know what you thought. Leave your reviews and don't be afraid to make them lengthy or to ask questions for clarification.**

 **Next chapter wont be as long and will be much more…mystical in nature.**

 **Next Time: The Celt**


	4. The Celt

******Chapter 3: The Celt******

 _May the Road Rise up to Meet you,_

 _May the Wind Always Be at your Back,_

 _May the Sun Shine Warm Upon Your Face,_

 _The Rain Fall Soft Upon Your Fields,_

 _And Until We Meet Again,_

 _May God Hold you in the Palm of his Hand. – Old Irish Blessing_

 **Location: New York City.**

The Hall was filled to the brim with hundreds upon hundreds of people. A single 8-sided cage lay in the middle of the hall, and a well-dressed man walked into the middle of said cage holding a microphone.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ARE YOU READY FOR OUR MAIN EVENT!?" the man in the middle of the cage shouted loudly into the microphone.

The crowd's applause spoke for themselves, men and women of all backgrounds cheering like they were in the very roman coliseum itself. Baying for the blood and violence they wanted to see so badly.

"INTRODUCING FIRST IN THE WHITE TRUNKS! WEIGHING 144 POUNDS! FROM DETROIT MICHIGAN! MICHELLE ROMERO!"

The crowd cheered loudly for the 6-foot Latino woman who showed off her quick reflexes with a few jabs and then raised her arms into the air. Her hair was tied up into tight braids against her head and her rock-hard abs flexed when she ceased showing off to the crowd.

"AND NEXT IN THE BLACK TRUNKS! WEIGHING 135 POUNDS! FROM DUBLIN, IRELAND! OUR OWN UNDEFEATED CHAMPION! CARA MORIARTY!"

The cheering of the crowds intensified as the woman of the hour cracked her neck back and forth and stepped forward.

Some would say she had hair kissed by fire, skin as pale as snow and eyes bluer than the sea itself. Stood she would be around 5 feet 7, with a lean athletic build and freckles peppering her face in all the right places.

Cara was stunningly beautiful, like a princess from an ancient Celtic fairy-tale her father used to tell her.

But Cara was anything but a princess

On her left bicep was a Celtic designed tattoo, of a Celtic knot enshrouded by Black Raven feathers.

Both women stepped into the centre of the ring with their arms raised in a defensive position. Cara offering her fist forward in a sign of respect. Cara had seen this woman fight before and she wanted this to be a good fight.

But her opponent just scoffed and held up her fists in an aggressive stance.

' _Oh, so it's going to be like that eh?'_ Cara thought to herself.

She hated when her opponents didn't show sportsmanship.

Michelle made the first move, going for a left jab which Cara dodged and countered with a right hook. Staggering back Michelle was surprised at the strength behind that punch, Cara was in good shape but she wasn't built to the same level as her opponent.

The right hook gave Cara the opportunity to rush in and land a few quick left jabs, Michelle was able to lessen the impact of the strikes by blocking but that gave Cara the opening to grab her head and bring it down upon her knee.

Several times.

Now, tough fighter or not. It always sucked when you got a knee in the face.

Michelle staggered back, squeezing her eyes shut in pain as she tried to put some distance between herself and Cara. But her efforts were in vein as Cara continued her onslaught, rushing forward, landing rough body shots, viscous right hooks and left hooks pounded into Michelle's mid-section, making it harder for her to concentrate.

When Michelle threw a right hook of her own, Cara ducked and countered with an uppercut. Blood shot out from Michelle's nose as she swore she felt something break. Cara once again grabbed Michelle's head and threw a viscous elbow into her face.

Blood clouded Michelle's vision as Cara has cut open a wound above her eye. A move like that was designed to further mess with an opponent's ability to fight. Michelle then broke the hold and tried to back up.

That's when her back hit the metal cage.

Cara ran up and delivered a running knee right into Michelle's face. Once recovered she began reigning down vicious blows that her opponent had no defence against. Within a few seconds Michelle was on the floor, Cara relentlessly pounding her face in with right hooks and elbow shots.

The referee was quick to split them apart, and once Cara was standing she quickly and calmly walked back to her side of the ring.

The fight started and ended within 15 seconds. And Cara didn't have a scratch on her.

* * *

Cara sat on the bench in her locker, a towel wrapped around her shoulders. She had taken off her gloves and was routinely taking deep breaths.

Inhale through the nose.

Exhale through the mouth.

' _Don't lose control'_ she kept telling herself.

' _Keep it in check'_

' _That was enough to keep it sated'_

' _Right?'_

Cara reached up and let her red locks free from her pony tail. Her bright, fire red hair splayed out in a veil of crimson. Cara opened her eyes with a final exhale. She looked down at her shaking hands and squeezed them tightly. With another exhale, Cara's breath became visible, as if she were in a freezing cold room.

"Keep it in check…keep it in check" She whispered to herself.

"That was a hell of a fight out there" came a voice. Cara looked up to see the announcer from before, adjusting his tie and giving her a smile of approval.

"Thanks" Cara murmured as she held her hands in front of her and squeezed her eyes closed.

"I wish half the girls and guys we get in this place put on shows like you Moriarty. You should consider going pro, I mean a girl like you would be world champion within a year" he smiled.

Cara didn't react to that, she simply kept her rhythmic breathing going. A slight shiver to her as she sat there in her MMA gear.

"Anyways, I think you definitely earned this" the Announcer pulled out a thick white envelope from his jacket and put it down next to her.

"Cheers" Cara said as she reached down and picked up the envelope.

"You don't talk much do you?" he asked.

"No"

The announcer was used to this kind of behaviour from a lot of the fighters that came through. A lot of the rough and tough crowd were silent and kept to themselves. You could vent your frustrations out in the ring, you could take out your aggressions on your opponent.

If only the real world were as simple as that.

"I hope we'll see you again Cara. You bring in the best crowds, ah and before I forget. Romero said she would be wanting a rematch soon, I can tell she is feeling bitter it ended that fast"

"Not my problem. If she wants another beating I'll oblige" Cara replied with her eyes closed.

"Haha, nice one. Very zen warrior deals you got going on. But like I said, next fight will be big money! See you next time lassy" the announcer laughed, putting on a really bad Irish accent that sounded more Scottish than anything else.

Once the announcer left, Cara growled to herself.

"Gobshite"

* * *

Later that night, Cara had made her way to the place she would usually find herself after a tough night.

O'Connor's Irish Pub. Nothing quite like a little taste of home after a fight.

Cara now wore a black leather biker jacket with the left sleeve missing. On the back was a design of a Black Raven spreading its wings while perched on a Celtic cross. Under said jacket was a loose fitting grey vest and a pair of ripped blue jeans. She wore blue sneakers and on her right hand a black leather fingerless glove, while on her left hand she wore a black fishnet glove.

"Hey Cara, what can I get you?" The Bartender, a tall man with a bald head and pale skin asked.

"Hey Jim, just the usual please" Cara replied with a small smile.

"Sure. How's your day been?" Jim asked as he retrieved a whiskey glass put in a few Ice Cubes.

"The Usual, people needed their faces turned to mincemeat and I was happy to oblige" Cara replied.

Cara Moriarty, age 19. A Regular of O'Connor's Pub, was anything but a regular lass. Her 'job' was that she was a female Cage fighter. Contrary to what many who met Cara at first glance believed, she was a very rough individual. Whoever noticed her lack of sharp, well-kept fingernails could probably guess that she wasn't a woman that cared about how she looked too much.

"I heard from some of the regulars that you didn't even get a scratch this time" Jim remarked as he filled her glass with some good old Irish Whiskey. Jim always got her the top shelf stuff, and with the payday she got today she could afford to fill her glass with it.

"My opponent didn't have a sense of sportsmanship" Cara replied, picking up her glass and taking a sip.

The alcohol was smooth and just what she needed tonight. The burn in the depths of her stomach staved off the cold she had been feeling all night.

"Poor girl, you must have messed her up something fierce" Jim replied with a chuckle.

"If she wanted to stay pretty she shouldn't have gotten in the ring" Cara replied.

Jim chuckled at the remark but watched with a caring eye as Cara kept her eyes closed when she took another sip. Something was bothering her and he didn't know what.

"You sure your ok?" Jim asked.

"I'm fine Jim, it's just…its one of those days" Cara smiled faintly.

Even though Jim sounded American, Jim O'Connor's family had been in the states since the potato famine. He was of Irish decent and through the countless years he had not lost any sense of his heritage. He was a good sort, hospitable, friendly, someone you could open your heart to and would always listen.

One thing that Jim always said was that the moment someone stepped through the doors of his pub, they were family.

Cara always felt at home at O'Connor's.

"Well, if that's the case. I feel that drinking alone is the last thing you need" Jim said as he got himself a glass and began adding cubes.

"Are you sure Jim? Should you be looking after the bar?" Cara asked.

"The others have the bar covered. Besides, it's my pub, before that it my father's and my Grandad's before him, and they would beat my ass from beyond the grave if they ever found out I let a lady that's down drink by herself" Jim smiled as he filled his glass and topped up Cara's.

Cara smiled, Jim always knew how to cheer her up.

"What do you say? Drinking Buddies?" Jim asked as he raised his glass.

"Drinking Buddies" Cara confirmed as she clinked her glass with Jim's.

After taking a long chug, Jim was quick to engage whatever topic was on his favourite patron's mind.

"So, as friends…what's on your mind?" Jim asked as he topped up their glasses.

"I don't know Jim. I've been in this country for the past 6 years, and no matter how much time passes I can't stop thinking about home" Cara replied, her smile fading.

"It's probably a question you are used to but, why not go back? Give your folks a visit? With the cash you make from your fights it can't be that expensive" Jim replied.

"It's…not that simple" Cara replied.

"I know its weird hearing a man that sells booze for living say this, but keeping things bottled up isn't always a good thing" Jim said before taking another swig.

"No offence Jim, but…It's not something I like talking about, especially in public" Cara replied.

"Fair enough. Just know that if you need someone to talk to, I'm all ears" Jim replied with a reassuring smile.

"Duly noted" Cara took another swig of her whiskey and gave out a satisfied sigh.

"I Think I should probably be getting home, it's late enough as it is" Cara smiled.

"Need me to walk you home?" Jim asked.

"Did you seriously just ask me that?" Cara raised a brow.

"Let me rephrase that, do you want me to?" Jim asked.

"…Yeah, I could use the company" Cara smiled.

* * *

The walk home was long, but Cara liked it that way. The feel of the cool night air against her skin felt pleasant and the moonlight reminded her of when she would walk through the Glen as a child with her parents.

Her parents.

Cara sometimes found herself thinking out them, about what they would think of her now.

All these years later.

"Aren't you cold?" Jim asked, gesturing to the fact that Cara only had one sleeve on her Leather Jacket. Jim on the other hand wore a zipped-up leather jacket and blue jeans as the cold seemed to affect him more.

"Nah, I'm good with the cold. Besides, its always been warmer over here in the states than back home" Cara replied, putting her hands in her pockets.

"What is Ireland like?" Jim asked.

"Excuse me?" Cara asked.

"Ireland, the Home Country, what's it like? I've never been there myself, All I've heard about it is stories from my Grandad about how beautiful it is" Jim replied with a shrug.

Jim definitely struck Cara as a man that was proud of his Celtic heritage, she could understand that. She still felt nostalgic from time to time about the country of her birth and how it must have changed from last she saw it.

"I haven't been home in 6 years Jim"

"Well I've never been there in my life"

"Why don't you take a flight then? Go on vacation?"

"One, I have a business that I swore to my old man I would look after, and two, I don't want this walk to be a long awkward silence" Jim replied with a smirk.

"It's…mystic in its own way. One of the few places on earth that still feels natural. Everywhere you look there is green. The weather isn't always great, but on a good day you feel like you live in a perfect world…like all the bad things in life are just a nightmare you woke up from" Cara explained, staring off into the distance as she described it.

Jim looked at the way Cara stared longingly into the sky, at the moon.

"Then, why did you leave?" he asked with a raised brow.

Cara's brow furrowed at the question as she remembered the reason why.

Flames turn to icicles.

Screams die in the air.

The shapes dancing on the shores.

The falling raven's feathers in the air.

The flash of her mother's eyes.

The smooth voice whispering in her ear.

The blood spraying on her face.

All images that had haunted her whenever she shut her eyes. It was hard finding sleep whenever those images made their way into the black matter of Cara's head. The sounds and the images as vivid and as detailed as they ever were.

"Don't fucking move!" whispered a voice angrily from behind the two.

Cara swore she recognised that voice from somewhere.

"Wait a minute…turn around Bitch" the voice said again, directed at Cara.

Cara slowly turned around to meet eyes with a very bruised yet familiar face. It was her opponent from earlier that night. Michelle Romero, and standing behind here were two very large men, wearing hoodies and dark clothing.

"Well, well, well. I didn't expect it to be you. I guess fate really is on my side today" Michelle smiled. She had the early signs of a black eye and was still pretty beat up, which is probably why she was pointing a Dessert Eagle in Cara's face.

"Friends of your Cara?" Jim asked nervously.

"Hardly, this bitch cost me big time today. But luckily here she is and I bet she has her winnings still on her" Michelle smirked.

"You might not be thinking this through. But you should probably put the gun down and just walk away" Jim said with a nervous tone.

"Fuck off Baldy! You are lucky you aren't on the floor right now! Now the both of you get in that fucking alley or I blow your brains out!" Michelle whisper yelled at the two of them.

Cara really didn't want Jim to get hurt in this situation. This was her problem, and she had to solve it herself. Cara nodded to Jim, signalling to do what the armed woman said.

The two turned to the alley and began walking, when close enough they found another three men in dark clothing waiting for them. Apparently, Michelle had planned out an ambush for whatever poor soul happened this way.

"Now, I've been waiting all day for this" Michelle smiled.

*THWACK!*

Michelle pistol whipped Cara in the face, sending the red head falling onto the floor. Cara reached up to feel the cut on her bloody lip.

Jim immediately acted for Cara's defence, he went for Michelle's gun but one of the men grabbed him around the waist and threw him against the wall. Jim quickly turned to attack and swung a right hook at one of the large men. His punch connected and the man staggered back.

"Ooooh, Lover boy wants a piece!" one of the men laughed as they began pulling out switchblades, 45's and pipes.

"Leave him alone! I'm the one you want!" Cara yelled at them, wiping from the blood from her mouth.

"Oh, don't worry bitch, we'll take our time with you once we are done with hero over here" one of the men laughed before kicking Cara in the gut.

Cara clutched her gut as she fell down. the pain was bad, but not as bad as the feeling returning. She thought she had sated it earlier in the ring, but it came back with a vengeance. The throbbing inside her became unbearable and her lungs felt like they were filled with ice.

Cara's hands started shaking badly, and Jim saw it.

"Cara!" he shouted in worry before taking a swing at another one of the men. He missed by a mile and was met with a lead pipe to the head.

Blood splattered in the air and Cara's eyes went wide.

"What happened to that tough girl act? Turns out you are just as pathetic as all the people in this city" Michelle laughed as she kicked Cara in the gut again.

Cara's vision became blurry.

Jim fell to one knee, blood pouring from an open wound in his head. The men gathered around were just laughing before one with a switchblade stepped forward and drove his knife into Jim's mid-section.

Jim gasped in pain and could only look at Cara with a look of failure in his eyes. He was taught his entire life to stand up for what he believed and to not just be a bystander. He thought he could be brave like his father and grandfather but he was wrong.

He was

Only human.

Jim fell to both knees, clutching his gut, the blood running through his fingers.

"Sorry man, nothin personal" one of the men laughed pointing his gun at Jim's head.

*BANG!*

…

…

The bullet fell to the floor harmlessly.

Michelle and the men looked with wide eyes filled with shock as if all the air had left the space they inhabited.

It had happened in barely a second. One moment Cara was on the floor clutching her gut, and the next she was clutching Jim to her chest with her back to them

They thought the bullet would kill her.

But it didn't bounce off her skin. nor did it stop short and fall to the ground like there was a field around her.

No.

Cara and Jim were shielded, by a huge pair of Black feathered wings, sprouting from Cara's back. And the bullet bounced off the feathers like they were made of metal.

"What….the fuck?" Michelle whispered, quickly reaching up and grabbing the cross around her neck.

Cara stood up slowly, cold air drifting from all around her as her wings unfurled and stretched out wide. Her wingspan was huge, it could have enveloped 10 people.

But when Cara turned they wished they were blind.

There were jet black veins emerging from the skin around Cara's eyes stretching out like a mask that covered her upper face.

The cut on her lip and any signs of physical injury were long gone.

Her once beautiful blue eyes themselves were eerily white like a blind woman, but the irises were pin point pupils that moved around unnaturally.

Her once bright red hair was now turning black at the tips and creeping up to her head like a chameleon.

Her head tilted to the side and her brow furrowed in anger.

"What the hell is this?" One of the men asked in utter confusion and fear before pointing his gun at Cara.

Cara reached out and grabbed the muzzle of the gun, and before the man could pull the trigger it shattered in his hand. Pieces of the gun fell to the floor like broken shards of ice.

Cara angrily punched the man in the gut, sending him flying into the wall with a sickening thud. From there she flexed her wings, using them to slice apart the men's weapons like a hot knife through butter.

Cara propelled herself into the air and thrusted her wings, delivering a devastating dropkick to two men at once, easily breaking their jaws with her kicks. Three men were already down and the next two tried to get the jump on her by rushing the woman.

Cara spun in place and her wings swung in an arc. With a splatter of blood, her wings sliced through the men's heavy clothing and into their flesh. Their wounds weren't fatal, but they hurt like hell. Cara jumped up, her wings propelling her to a flying knee in the closest man's face.

With only one man and Michelle left, Cara propelled herself into the remaining man and thrusted him into the wall, grabbing both sides of his face, he screamed as he felt his skin go freezing to the point where it felt his face cracked under the pressure.

Cara angrily slammed his head against the wall with one hand, causing bits of his face come loose against the wall. Cara kneed him in the gut and threw him to the ground angrily.

"Don't come any closer!" Michelle ordered, holding her gun up and pointed at Cara's head.

The look Cara gave her couldn't have been more terrifying. The image in front of her was like something from a nightmare. The huge black wings extended from Cara's back, her eyes, the black veins emerging from her eyes across her face. The mix of black and red that was her hair.

Cara just walked forward slowly, her fists clenched at her sides.

"You said Fate was on your side today" Cara said coldly.

"I said stop!" Michelle ordered, her voice shaking in fear.

"Fate is not yours, nor will it ever be" Cara coldly said before her left wing sliced the gun in half.

Michelle felt the tears biting at the edges of her eyes. Cara lunged forward and slammed Michelle against a wall, leaning forward until there was barely a few inches between them.

"Fate is mine…and you shouldn't have hurt my friend" Cara growled as her hands wrapped around Michelle's throat and began to squeeze.

The exhilaration of battle felt good, it sated that dark hunger deep within her soul. No one knew of what was within Cara, she herself scarcely knew, but the feeling deep within her constantly hungered for blood, for battle, for combat.

To bring fate to those who would rob and cheat it.

Cara began to smile as she felt the life slip away from Michelle, until a voice spoke up.

"Cara, don't!" a gasping voice called out.

Cara looked to see Jim on the floor, clutching his bleeding gut with blood running down his head.

"You aren't a killer, you aren't like them" he gasped as he felt his vision falter.

Cara's eyes slowly turned from their piercing white back to sapphire blue and worry entered her mind. Dropping an unconscious Michelle to the floor, Cara rushed over to Jim and held him to her chest.

"Jim! Jim! Don't close your eyes! Don't close your fecking eyes you arsehole!" Cara panicked until she heard a voice she hadn't heard in years.

" _It is not his time to die child. Fate smiles upon this one, you know of what to do"_ the smooth feminine voice whispered in her ear.

Cara reached out and placed her hand over Jim's stomach. Black veins crawled around her hand and up her arm. Grimacing in concentration, Cara grunted as the sound of flesh resealing filled the air. Jim's vision began to return to him as he felt this warmth take over him. The pain slowly fading away as he saw Cara, leaning over him with her hand on his stomach.

"Cara? What…" Jim began to ask until he realized that the blood loss wasn't playing with his mind. Cara had a huge pair of black feathered wings sprouting from her back and black veins covering the skin around her eyes.

Cara removed her hand to reveal that Jim's wound had sealed itself shut, as it he had never been stabbed at all. Cara looked up at him and brought her hand to his head.

"What are you…"

"Shhhh. Quiet now" Cara whispered as he felt the wound in his head seal and the throbbing pain cease.

Jim slowly stood up and looked at Cara, standing there in the alley, the moonlight shimmering across her black feathered wings.

"Cara, what are…what are you?" Jim asked.

"…forget you saw me" Cara whispered as she glanced away into the distance and brought her hands up, hugging her arms to herself. Her wings began to detract as the floor beneath her began to freeze.

"Cara, what do you mean?"

"I'm sorry Jim…" Cara whispered before her wings stretched out and with a great flap Cara was sent flying into the air like a soaring raven. Her shape quickly disappeared from Jim's sight, leaving him there in the alley, surrounded by the unconscious and badly beaten bodies of their muggers.

* * *

Cara landed on the roof with a thud, the moonlight outlining her shadow against a nearby wall. Her hands began to tremble as a sickening cracking sound filled the air. Falling to her knees, Cara's wings retracted back into her back, the cracking of bones filling her ears.

The black veins retracted back into her eyes and left her face as it normally was. Her hair returning to its vibrant red colour. Cara let out a deep exhale, her breath visible and frost against the air as she stood up and cracked her neck from side to side.

* * *

Cara opened the door to her apartment, closing and locking the door behind her. Her apartment was simple and efficient, not many personnel effects. A single TV, a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, the only thing that stood out was a liquor cabinet that was clearly restocked regularly.

She took off her jacket and hung it up before walking into her bedroom.

On her way there she stopped by the mantlepiece, picking up a framed photo. The photo was of a family of 4. Two adults, a redheaded woman with pale skin and a bearded man with shoulder length brown hair, a brown-haired boy and a redheaded little girl. They all looked happy, especially the little girl that took after her mother.

Cara looked at the photo for a solid minute before putting it back in its place.

Lying there on her bed was the only companion she had known for the past 6 years. A huge dog, a St Bernard with a big happy look on his face.

Bubba.

"Hey Bubba, did you miss me?" Cara whispered as she cradled the head of her St Bernard and scratching behind his ears. Bubba's tail wagged as Cara sat down on her bed and her canine companion laid his head on her lap.

Bubba whined as he sensed the sadness that his owner was feeling and rubbed into her. Cara hugged Bubba to her chest as tears slowly ran down her cheeks. The memories would haunt her tonight, and she hoped when she awoke that the hunger wasn't back.

No, Cara Moriarty was anything but a Princess.

And this wasn't a fairytale.

 **So, everyone, I present to you Cara Moriarty. A Character I had so much trouble deciding on…yet so much fun writing for. I hope you all enjoyed reading it, as Cara holds a special place in my heart as a representation of my very own Irish Heritage.**

 **Now as for where Cara's powers and abilities come from…those of you who know a fair bit about Celtic Mythology will already have some ideas, if not…well it will be developed in time.**

 **Yeah guys, I did say a lot of these characters would be damaged. But don't worry, next chapter won't end as depressing as this one did.**

 **As always be sure to leave lengthy reviews and tell me exactly what you thought. Ask any questions you want and ill be sure to PM you back answers. Any kind of Feedback is welcome, the longer and more detailed the better.**

 **Next Chapter: The Metamorph**

 **EDIT: Yeah, according to reviewer "rmarcano321" there is such a thing as Foxy Boxing...I had no clue what the hell this was before he brought it up in his review and to lay any suspicion's to rest, the opening fight is a UFC style MMA fight between two female fighters. There is nothing sexual about it and I hope this little edit helps put that to rest, thank you.**


	5. The Metamorph

**Chapter 4: The Metamorph**

 **Here we go guys, the latest chapter of A New Beginning, hope the wait wasn't too long.**

 **And if you are in some need for more Original Marvel content, please be sure to check out aspiringactor's 'Marvel: Reborn'. The guy is the reason I write Marvel stories so please so your support.**

 **Please enjoy.**

 ***New York City. Queens.**

The moonlight shone brightly as the cloudless skies were lit up by the countless stars dancing in the black curtain of night. The city below was illuminated by the light of the moon, its pleasant silver glow giving the surrounding area an air of mysticism.

Sat upon a nearby rooftop was a young man who was right in the midst of enjoying the feeling in the air.

18-year-old Jake Jasper, always enjoyed the moonlight. It was soothing in its own special way.

Jake was a young man around the height of 5 feet 8. Very lean, a sprinter's build. His black hair was tied up into tight braids that reached his shoulders. And his skin was a light shade of brown, this wasn't surprising considering his mixed heritage as Jake was born of an American Greek Father and a Black American Mother.

But born and raised in New York, Jake was going to be a Queens boy his entire life. If he learned to survive on these streets then he could survive anywhere.

Jake wore a dark Grey zip up Hoodie, ripped Black jeans, a pair of bright red converse sneakers and a black Bandana hanging loosely around his neck. Jake's bright green eyes almost shimmered in the low light, as he looked outwards.

Looked outwards towards the City of New York. At the Place his biggest hero resided, the White and Blue building with a huge 4 emblazed across its face.

The Baxter Building. Home of the Fantastic Four and the childhood hero of Jake Jasper.

 ***FLASHBACK, 9 YEARS AGO**

A Young Jake sat on the carpet in front of his parents' TV. Usually on a morning like this Jake would be watching cartoons, but right now he was watching the news and their coverage on a very important event that had taken place.

" _We are here at the aftermath of the fight, and it appears that the Fantastic Four have done it again. Today started as another grasp for power by former scientist Harvey Rupert Elder, AKA the Mole Man. Luckily for us his attempts were thwarted by the Fantastic Four in a daring and heroic raid of Elder's underground base"_ the female News reporter on the scene said. A huge crater in the middle of the street behind him.

Shield agents were already in the process of cleaning up the wreckage and the various bodies of the Mole Man's hybrid monsters. An even bigger monster with a gaping mouth was being hauled away, Jake recognised this as the monster Giganto.

Jake had watched so much of the Fantastic Four that he knew most of their villains alias' off by heart.

A thin man with brown hair that started to go white at the edges came into the frame. He wore a blue jumpsuit with a 4 emblazed on the chest and had a bushy brown beard. Jake instantly recognised this as Reed Richards, Mr Fantastic.

" _Dr Richards! Came you comment on todays events and how you were able to defeat the Mole Man?"_ the female reporter rushed up to the leader of the four.

" _Rupert wanted to destabilize the surface by using sonic propulsion emitters to warp the layers of tectonic plates. If he was able to do that he would sent the human race back to the bronze age, then he would be able to take control of the surface world. Luckily, I constructed a Tachyon Amplifier of my own custom design to alter the wave patterns to a manageable scale, I was then able to…"_ Reed continued until a younger man in the same designed costume put a hand on his shoulder.

" _Techno Babble Reed, the kids at home won't know what you are talking about. Basically, what happened is the big bad mole man tried to melt the surface, but we kicked his short, round and dirty butt"_ Johnny Storm smiled as he explained the events to the female reporter.

That is precisely when a beautiful blonde woman entered the frame, wearing the same blue suit with the emblazed 4. Susan Storm, the Invisible Woman.

" _What my brother is trying to say is that we worked like we always do. As a Family. Whatever Rupert had planned wasn't going to work because we always stick together. My Genius of a Husband, my dorky Baby Brother…"_ Susan ruffled Johnny's hair.

" _And none of us can forget our ever lovin blue eyed…"_

" _BEAT IT YA MOOKS!"_ shouted a very familiar voice in the background.

" _Oh god"_ Susan whispered as the camera turned to see Ben Grimm, The Thing in all his Orange rocky glory, waving away a bunch of youths trying to steal pieces of wreckage and Pieces of the Mole Man's monsters from the scene of the fight.

" _This ain't a Souvenir Stand! So, beat it! Before I knock those melons you call heads together!"_ Ben yelled as the youths quickly scattered.

Jake's Face lit up when the camera moved to The Thing. Ben Grimm was a hero all over the world, but New York especially. Men like Ben Grimm were the epitome of New York spirit, men who came from dirty beginnings on the mean streets, but overtime would rise to become idols for the younger generations.

New York had its share of Local Heroes. Steve Rodgers, Captain America was a Brooklyn boy, Spiderman was a known New Yorker, The Devil of Hell's Kitchen patrolled the nights, Ben Grimm and the Fantastic Four, the list went on.

But, Ben Grimm was by far the hero that Jake idolized the most.

He had taught Jake that it was what was within that made someone a hero. Even though he looked like a monster on the outside, he was a golden hearted American hero on the inside. A hero with an indomitable will and the strength to back it up to protect those he cared about.

Ben Grimm was Jake's idol.

 ***Flashback End**

Jake smiled at the thoughts of his childhood, sitting on the carpet in front of the TV, watching the exploits of real heroes that defended this world. The young man loved living in a city where heroes could be made on the streets, a city where anything was possible.

But mostly, a city where the craziest of shit could happen.

*RING**RING*

Jake scrambled as his ringtone went off, clumsily trying to get it out of his back as quickly as possible he almost dropped it off the roof a few times before he managed to answer it.

"Hey mom, how's it going?" Jake replied, worriedly running a hand over his braids.

" _Hi Sweetie, just checkin up on you. You aren't too cold are ya? I noticed you left in nothing but that hoodie of yours"_

"Mom, I'm fine. Its not that cold anyway"

" _You know how I worry. If you need a lift or anything let me know"_

"Mom I've told you, it's just a DnD game. Nothing but mountain dew and Doritos all night" Jake replied with a smirk. His mom always worried no matter what he did, it got annoying sometimes but it warmed his heart that he had such a caring mother.

" _Well ok, just be sure to not leave it too late ok? Get back before midnight, you have to help your father put up that shed in the morning"_

"Don't worry mom, I haven't forgotten. I love you"

" _I love you too my little Angel"_

"Bye mom"

" _Bye sweetie"_

"Yeah mom…bye"

" _Bye sweetheart"_

"Mom. Please hang up"

" _You first Honey"_

"Ok Mom, I'm hanging up"

" _See you later Pumpkin"_

And with that Jake mercifully ended the call between him and his mother. He wished that he could tell his mom what he was doing without lying. Because what he was up to right now was not playing DnD with his friends.

That was on Saturdays.

And today was a Friday.

Jake closed his eyes and took a long deep breath, when he opened his eyes again they had changed. They no longer looked like human eyes, they looked like the eyes of a Hawk or an Owl. For a few seconds Jake scanned the area before blinking again, his eyes back to their regular human shape.

Jake stood up and put up his hood, pulling up his bandana until it covered the majority of his face. On his bandana was a symbol, a symbol that looked like a U with a long line down the bottom, littered with smaller lines.

The Alchemical symbol for Amalgamation.

Jake took a few steps backwards to give himself a running start.

Jake cracked his neck from side to side and ran to the edge of the building, jumping off in a swan dive. A few moments later an Owl flew up from where Jake had leapt, while below, people walked about their own business, with no trace of the young man at all.

* * *

A few minutes later, on the other side of town, around 15 men in dark clothing loaded crates by the truckload into a dimly lit warehouse. The warehouse itself was run down, dirty and lit only by a few lamps that seemed to be nearing their ends.

Inside the warehouse were a group of about 6 men, waiting in very well-tailored suits, overcoats and fedora hats. The men in dark clothing brought one of the crates over to the centre of the room and the largest of them, a man who was about 7 and a half feet tall walked over.

His custom-made leather coat did little to cover his massive rippling bulk, his entire body covered in a grey armoured battlesuit, his face being the only thing of his human body visible. The top of his head adorned with an intimidating curved horn.

Aleksei Sytsevich, AKA the Rhino. The man had gotten out of imprisonment about 3 years ago and had left to his home country of Russia since. Tonight, was his return to the city of New York. After all, he had some unfinished business with the Bug that put him behind bars in the first place.

"Alright, Sytsevich. What is you have to offer the boss?" one of the well-dressed Gangsters asked as he stepped forward.

"I thought it proper that with the state the city is in…that your boss and I could come to an agreement of sorts" Rhino replied with his thick and heavy Russian accent.

"Now hold on Big guy…you think the Boss is gonna accept your services? As I remember you worked for Fisk"

"Now Fisk is behind bars. A lot of the big names of this city are behind bars thanks to the heroes. The Spider and his girlfriend in particular" Rhino replied with his arms folded.

"In times like these, we have to stick together. Tombstone may be in charge of the crime around the city now, but he needs to make friends with the other heads or enforce his will" Rhino continued as he walked over to the crate and peeled off the top.

The crate was stocked full of weapons, RPG's, Semi-Automatic and Fully automatic rifles, grenades, a lot of military grade weaponry.

"Now, that's a sight to behold" one of the gangsters smiled at the sight of the weaponry.

"Fisk succeeded in controlling the city because he made friends with his enemies. The Gangs, the Hand, the Russians, the Chinese, Fisk was on good terms with all of them, If Tombstone wants the same control Fisk had he will have to enforce that…which is what my men and I are good at" Rhino smiled as he picked up a Heavy Machine gun from the box and tossed it to one of the Gangsters.

"So…What is you are proposing?" the head gangster asked.

"My men and I keep the gangs in check, we supply weapons to Tombstone and we take a 20% split of the profits and can operate however we choose" Rhino offered.

"10%" The lead gangster haggled.

"15%" Rhino replied.

The gangster smiled before taking Rhino's hand "It's a deal big man" he said as Rhino's men began bringing in the other crates.

"I've been hearing there have been new arrivals since I've been gone" Rhino said as he and the lead gangster stepped out of the way to let their men operate.

"It's just been getting tougher. We thought when the Avengers split up that business would pick up again, but new challenges seem to keep popping up. The Iron Man has a new protégé, the Bug and the Marvel are working together, people been talking about some Angel of Death in the Irish neighbourhood. Then there has been talk of some new gang coming into town to set up shop" the gangster explained.

"New Gang?" Rhino asked.

"Yeah, European dudes, probably British. People say they dress in robes, doing these ritual sacrifices and shit, some stuff you would read in a fucking Horror book man" the Gangster replied.

"What are they called?"

"They are called something like…Uh, the Black Cult…uh the black order or some shit I dunno. Whatever their name is it sounds like a fuckin heavy metal album"

"The Obsidian Order?" Rhino asked.

"Yeah that's it…what you know em?"

"Only stories, Rumours if anything. They say they've been operating in the shadows since before the Roman empire fell. Moving from place to place every couple hundred years…to think they've arrived here…I would say you should keep an ear out" Rhino replied.

Little did Rhino and the gangsters know that around a corner of the Warehouse, Jake knelt in waiting. The moment he saw the huge horn on the head of the huge dude…he knew it was the Rhino. The guy was one of Spiderman's rogue's gallery, and a very nasty one to boot. The guy was super strong, super durable and could do some serious damage.

He was not a man to be taken likely.

Jake's skin changed colour from its normal light brown to a pitch black, this would make stealth much easier.

To anyone that didn't know. Jake was a Metamorph, meaning he had the ability to change himself. There were many ways in which Jake could alter himself to many varying degrees of difficulty.

The easiest were slight changes, things that wouldn't dramatically change his shape. Changing his skin from brown to Pitch black being a good example.

The next hardest was changing the structure of certain organs, like earlier when he genetically changed the structure of his eyes from human eyes into Hawk eyes.

The next hardest was stuff like Morphing his shape radically. Like earlier, when he morphed into an Owl after leaping off of the roof. Changing into animals was relatively easy, that is if Jake basically knew how they were put together.

A few of Rhino's men walked over near where Jake was hidden, moving crates back and forth. Jake quickly and stealthily moved towards one of them and grabbed them in a headlock. The man struggled for a second before Jake put a hand over his mouth.

The man went limp, as Jake converted the skin on his hand with a Chloroform type substance. The usefulness of Jake's Metamorph abilities were hindered only by the fact he could concentrate on only two at a time.

Right now, a Chloroform skin covered hand and Pitch-black skin were his limit. If he wanted to change in another way he would have to drop those two qualities. After dragging the man into the shadows, Jake dropped his chloroform coated hand. Concentrating now on only his Stealth skin.

The weapon crate would be a perfect distraction. So, Jake converted his skin to exude an oily and flammable substance. He rubbed his hands over the crate, smearing it with the substance before he replaced this conversion and converted his hands to be covered in flint.

A quick strike of his hands and the crate was up in flames.

Dropping his stealth skin and flint hands, Jake quickly concentrated on a form that would make him hard to detect.

A Mouse seemed like a good idea.

"What the hell!?" one of Rhino's men yelled at the top of their lungs.

"PUT THAT DAM FIRE OUT NOW!" Rhino yelled at the top of his voice.

*KABOOOOM!*

The crate exploded, sending a few of Rhino's mean flying. The explosion wasn't violent enough to kill anyone, but they were certainly going to be sore in the morning after their sudden landings.

"What the hell is this Sytsevich!? You trying to kill us!?" The lead gangster yelled, pulling out a Magnum pistol, his men pulling out firearms of their own.

"This isn't my doing! It's probably the work of the Spider! Where are you!? You insect!" Rhino yelled as he ripped off his coat, revealing his grey armoured battlesuit, long since fused to his body.

"No spider I'm afraid" a voice came from behind them.

Rhino, his still conscious men, and all of the gangsters turned to see the source of the voice.

Jake was sat on another crate, looking very laidback and relaxed. Rhino took a few steps forward, cracking his fingers.

"Just who the hell are you?"

"I'm Amalgam, the Metamorph hero of New York city!" Jake announced as he hopped up on the crate.

…

…

The Gangsters and Rhino's men looked at each other before looking back at Jake.

"…Who?"

Jake felt like he just got shot through the heart when the Lead gangster asked that with a look of pure confusion on his face.

"Amalgam…The shapeshifting hero…You guys don't know who I am?"

"…Should we?" another man asked with a raised brow.

"I sabotaged your shipment of drugs last week" Jake almost exclaimed with his arms outstretched.

"What shipment?" the lead Gangster asked

"The one down by the docks"

"Oh that? The Boss barely noticed, a few pounds of Coke and a Quarter pound of Heroin"

"Oh, come on! I put a lot of work into that!" Jake exclaimed.

"Sorry kid, you probably aren't cut out for this"

"Yeah, not to poke fun but your costume is hardly striking. A hoodie and a bandana hardly scream superhero"

"Are you seriously critiquing my costume?" Jake asked.

"ENOUGH TALK YOU LITTLE INSECT!" Rhino yelled as he broke into a full charge. The ground shaking beneath his feet as his super heavy form moved at an insane speed.

Jake's face turned to one of absolute shock and thinking quickly dove forwards, baseball sliding between Rhino's legs. Rhino found himself crashing into a wall after seemingly missing his target. Pulling his head free of the wall, Rhino swerved around and was met with a huge bony club swinging into his face.

*TWACK!*

Rhino was sent flying to the right, hurdling through the wall, bits of debris and rubble following him through.

Where Jake was once standing was now a very large, armoured Ankylosaurus, waving its huge club-like tail back and forth. Jake's metamorphing abilities allowing hm to muster up enough brute strength to deal a blow to the Rhino.

Jake as a kid, like all kids, loved dinosaurs. So, it was no surprise he would enjoy shifting into them during fights. And the strength and force the tail of an Ankylosaurus could muster up was enough to take the wind out of Rhino's sails.

Swung in a 100-degree lateral arc, the tail swing of an Ankylosaurus could crush the bones of Tyrannosaurus' thick ankles.

So, it was safe to assume that it would make Rhino's face sore.

Jake in his Ankylosaurus form looked to the Gangsters who were gobsmacked at the show they had just witnessed. Seeing an 18-year-old kid in a hoodie and bandana turn into a heavily armoured dinosaur, was a sight to behold.

Especially when said dinosaur began to morph back into the shape of said 18-year-old.

"Yeah! What's up!? What's up!? Who's the kid now Huh!? Who's the kid now!?" Jake cheered with his arms up. Obviously hyped at being able to land a serious hit on the Rhino.

The Gangsters and all of Rhino's still conscious men aimed their weapons at Jake who stopped his cheering. The smile on Jake's face dropped as he realized every gun in the room was now pointed at him.

"Ah….crap" Jake said out loud before he squeezed his eyes closed, tensed up and put everything into concentrating hard.

*DAKKADAKKADAKKADAKKA!*

The spray of gunfire echoed throughout the room as the dimly lit warehouse was lit up by the light of numerous muzzle flashes. The Gangsters and Rhino's men fired their pistols, their Uzis and sub-machine guns at Jake, hoping to reduce the young man into swiss cheese.

What they didn't expect was for their bullets to ricochet off his skin and bounce all over the room.

A few bullets found their ways back to the men that fired them, hitting them in their legs, thighs, shoulders and hands. A bullet in the ass or two.

"AGH, JESUS!" one of the gangsters with a bullet wound in his ass yelled in pain.

The spraying of gunfire from the gangsters and thugs left them all on the floor, clutching at wounds they had inadvertently caused from the ricochet of bullets.

The skin around his left eye turned back to normal as he took a peak to see if the gunfire had stopped. Seeing that the gunfire stopped, and the gangsters and thugs were on the floor, writhing in pain, Jake dropped this transformation and began gasping for breath.

"How the fuck are you not dead?!" one of the gangsters gritted his teeth in pain.

"The Human body is 96% Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Nitrogen…I just had to make the Carbon on the surface denser and harder…like Carbon steel. It's pretty simple if you know your chemistry" Jake replied, gasping between words as he bent over with his hands on his knees.

Doing to full body morphs in such a short amount of time took a lot of energy out of Jake. Morphing to Jake was very taxing on his body, it wasn't a switch he could flick on and off, it had its limits. Morphing things like the surface of his skin or his eyes were easy, like quick star jumps, morphing into an animal of small or close to human size was like a quick lap, morphing into a large animal like the Ankylosaurus was like 2 long laps around a football field.

When he morphed back into his human shape, it would take a few minutes for him to catch his breath enough for a big change. Changing between forms in quick succession also took a lot out of him.

Jake had a wonderful gift, but using it was like flexing a muscle, a muscle that needed to be honed and developed over time.

"That was much easier than I thought" Jake smiled, finally regaining his breath.

"YOU LITTLE RUNT!" Rhino yelled, almost frothing at the mouth as he stepped through the hole in the wall.

"Ah…yeah…crap" Jake said as the smile dropped from his face again.

Rhino began to walk towards Jake, his fists clenched, his teeth gritted and his brow furrowed in absolute fury. The Rhino may not have been the brightest of the villains Spiderman had faced over the years, but he wasn't enough of an idiot to keep charging blindly. Especially when his target had proved he was fast enough to evade.

Rhino swung his fist in a downward arc, Jake barely leapt out of the way in time to avoid being turned into a bloody smear. Rolling into a crouched position Jake had to think, there wasn't any way he could defeat someone like Rhino in terms of strength.

Jake scrambled to his feet, and when he saw Rhino rearing back his arm, he quickly morphed his skin as hard and as dense as he could, back into its Carbon steel-like form.

*CLANG!*

Rhino back handed Jake, sending him hurdling into a far-off wall. if not for his quick Morph, Jake would be a pile of meat and broken bones, crumpled into the corner.

Jake blacked out momentarily.

 ***FLASHBACK 9 YEARS AGO**

Jake watched the television, sat right beside his mother, a woman with dark mocha skin and shoulder length black hair. On screen was a battle between a 30-foot Doombot and the fantastic four, the street was wrecked and crumbled due to the clash between the Four heroes and the giant robot.

Human Torch was flying circles around the Doombot, shooting fireballs at the robot which deflected them off its super advanced armour.

Invisible Woman was shielding a small family on the side of the road with one of her force fields, trying to keep them safe from harm as they ran for their lives.

Mr Fantastic was using his body to fling objects to distract the Doombot as best he could.

But Ben Grimm was fighting it head on. Leaping up onto its chest and pounding its face in with powerful punches that sent shockwaves through the air.

The Doombot's eyes lit up red, and powerful lasers blasted Grimm into the ground. Now free of Ben's Constant attacks, the Doombot swatted Johnny out of the skies, and sent him crashing into a nearby car.

Reed didn't have time to react as the Doombot revealed a pair of missile launchers in its shoulder plates. The missiles were sent rocketing through the air and made a crater where Reed was, Mr Fantastic lay there unconscious.

Sue put up another force field around herself as the Doombot began stomping on her. Sue had to keep the family shielded as they fled, so her concentration was only half on protecting herself. The blonde began sweating as the Doombot relentlessly stomped on Sue.

Jake looked terrified, as he clutched his mother's arm. The Four were his heroes, and he couldn't bare to see them hurt, even in the line of duty.

" _HEY! TIN CAN! IS DAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO!?"_ came Ben Grimm's voice on the television.

The Doombot turned to meet eyes with the Thing, cracking his knuckles and walking towards the Giant Robot with a look of fury in his eyes.

" _Come on Rusty…It's Clobberin Time!"_ Ben yelled his catchphrase as he charged with his fists raised.

Jake was on the edge of his seat as he watched his idol go toe to toe with an enemy that was more than 3 times his size. Ben fought with everything he had, trading blows with the Doombot, even though every punch it landed, sent him hurdling to the floor or into a building.

But no matter what the Doombot did, Ben got back up and charged at him again. Reigning down blows with everything he had. Putting dents in the Robot's armour. Jake watched with awe as his hero fought with everything he had. No matter what the Robot threw at him, Ben would get right back up and keep fighting.

" _Come on Rust Bucket…Is dat the best you can do?"_ Ben grinned as he threw a devastating right hook, putting a huge dent in the Doombot's temple.

Ben began raining huge blows, a left hook followed by a right hook. He was bit by bit turning the Doombot into scrap metal, pieces of its metallic armour falling off due to the immense beating it was getting from the Blue-Eyed Thing.

Jake watched in awe as Ben pounded the Doombot into the ground, its head reduced to a pile of metallic scrap. The cameras of those filming it zoomed to see Ben gasping for breath over the ruined wreckage of the robot.

Reed, Susan and Johnny quickly ran into frame, checking on Ben.

Ben turned to one of the cameras, smiled and gave a thumbs up.

Jake spent the rest of that day bouncing up and down like a jackrabbit, pretending to be his hero. Putting on his fantastic four Pyjamas and running around yelling "It's clobberin time"

Heroes were important for a boy.

Especially for one so different.

 ***FLASHBACK END**

Jake's eyes came back into focus, those memories flashing before his eyes as he felt the ground quake beneath him. Jake got up to all fours, but before he could stand up he felt a large hand grab him by his hood and yank him up 2 feet off the floor.

"I'll teach you to make a fool of me!" Rhino gritted his teeth before he threw Jake like a ragdoll into the nearest crate.

Splinters of wood flew all around as Jake made a sizeable hole in the crate, unloaded guns and weaponry fell out onto the young man as he groaned in pain. Unable to get his Barings, Jake couldn't Morph. Morphing always took a certain level of concentration.

Concentration he could not muster.

"Little runt…make a fool out of the Rhino. I'll make sure you never walk again after tonight!" Rhino growled yet again as he picked Jake up by the scruff of his neck and raised him up until they were eye to eye.

"What's the matter? No funny quips? No Animals?" Rhino grunted before he flung Jake into the nearest wall.

*TWACK!*

"AAGH!" Jake cried out in pain as he felt like the impact had broken a rib or two. Cradling his side, Jake coughed and tried to get up to all fours.

Jake thought back to his childhood, to all the moments that made him want to be a hero. To watching Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four on tv, to the moments he shared with his father, and all the stories he would tell him.

Jake's father was of Greek descent, and he always told him the stories of the great Greek heroes. Hercules, Perseaus, Jason and his Argonauts, even the stories of Achilles and the Myrmidons. But his favourite stories were those with the monsters, the creatures of Greek Legends.

Jake growled as he opened his eyes, his pupils slit like those of a cat.

Rhino approached, chuckling to himself and cracking his knuckles.

Jake's rib snapped back into place as his bones began to rearrange. The bones in his mands most of all, his fingernails warping and cracking, turning into long black claws.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you. It's going to be a long night" Rhino chuckled as he continued to approach.

"NNGH!" Jake grunted as he felt his teeth change shape, the flat teeth of a human warping and cracking behind his bandanna. Jake reached up and pulled down his bandana as his human mouth was transforming into a large maw filled with razor sharp teeth.

"What? Turning into some big bad dinosaur? Or is it something else I can kill?" Rhino commented as he continued his approach.

Jake's spine cracked and crunched, reshaping and reforming. Arching his back and he let out a yell which mid-yell turned into a lion like snarl. Drool began to drip from Jake's mouth as his hair began to change from black braids into what looked like a large black mane.

"Oh, a Lion is it? No problem, I can go for a fur skin rug anyway" Rhino chuckled as he reached out to grab Jake.

But before he could grab anything, a long, armoured appendage tore out from the base of Jake's spine and struck Rhino, sending him flying across the room.

*TWACK!*

Rhino crashed into the wall and when he looked up to find that the appendage was not the tail of a lion. But it was a large armoured scorpion tail, one that continued to grow as the change continued.

Jake opened his maw wide and let out a long and loud roar.

A pair of black membrane wings split out of Jake's back, his skin began to sprout golden brown Lion fur, the bones in his face began to crack and reform, his hands turned into thick clawed paws. His legs changed shape, the cracking and crunching of bones and muscle tissue filled the air as Jake transformed into the shape he had envisioned.

Rhino's eyes were wide open as he took in the form of the creature in front of him.

A massive monstrous Lion with a maw full of razor sharp teeth, a thick black mane of hair, a pair of piercing Amber eyes, a long black armoured Scorpion tail, bony armour plates tracking up the spin, a huge pair of black membrane wings with spiked wingtips. The creature was at least 10 feet tall and twice as wide if you counted the tail, its muscles ripples beneath its thick golden fur.

Jake had transformed into the form of a ferocious Manticore of Greek Legend.

Jake snarled, drool dripping from his maw before he let out a ferocious roar at Rhino.

"Alright, now this is interesting" Rhino cracked his neck back and forth.

Jake lunged at Rhino before he even had a chance to charge, he had to use the element of surprise to his advantage. The Manticore swung his right paw, hitting Rhino square in the face. The force behind the Manticore's paw swipe was devastating, as Rhino staggered to right.

Given barely enough time to recover, Jake clamped his huge jaws over one of Rhino's shoulders. Wrapping his huge forelimbs around the Rhino and wrestling him to the ground, falling onto his back, Rhino found himself pinned under the weight of the massive Lion Monster on top of him.

"AGH! YOU LITTLE!" Rhino grunted as he tried to pry the Manticore's jaws from around his shoulder.

Jake reared his tail back, the scorpion tail ready to strike and with fury he brought his tail down.

Rhino dodged his head to one side, narrowly avoiding the tail strike, Jake kept throwing tail strikes, trying to pierce the Rhino. Rhino would not usually be afraid of something piercing his armoured hide, but the fact that the scorpion tail broke the floor beneath him made him feel like it definitely had the strength.

Finally, Jake's tail struck Rhino square in the neck, the scorpion venom going to work immediately. Rhino felt the venom burning in his veins as it coursed through his bloodstream and Jake knew that this venom would need time to work properly.

It was Rhino's turn to get manhandled.

Jake picked up Rhino and lobbed him into the nearest wall, the concrete cracking under his weight. With another tail strike, Rhino had his back turned to Jake.

Jake wrapped his massive forelimbs around the Rhino and arched his wing back. With a powerful flap of his wings, Jake flew straight upwards, crashing through the glass roof of the warehouse and into the skies.

Any passing Citizens would have been gobsmacked by the sight of a humanoid Rhino being flown into the skies by a Manticore.

Jake flew high, very high, high enough that he and Rhino began to pass through clouds. The entire time Rhino and he were struggling against each other, the Rhino throwing a punch that wouldn't land, Jake wrapping his tail around Rhino's neck and dragging him by that through the air.

The air was beginning to get thin and Jake felt this was high enough. Growling deeply, Jake let go of Rhino, sending the huge meta-human falling. Jake roared and dove downward, his forelimbs pushing Rhino down even further.

Gravity sent both Jake and Rhino hurdling downwards towards the warehouse, the force behind them enhanced by Jake and his downwards air dive. Before long, Jake opened his wings, putting his descent to a halt in mid-air while Rhino continued.

"AAAAAAAGH!" Rhino yelled as he came crashing down into the warehouse, a huge crater beneath him as debris and rocks went flying. A man in an armoured suit that weighed over 700 pounds falling at those speeds from that height.

Armoured suit or not…that was going to hurt.

Jake flew back into the warehouse still in his Manticore form and walked over to Rhino, was laying face up in the middle of the crater. Jake narrowed his feline eyes as he noticed Rhino was still breathing, his lip was bloodied as hell and there was a trail of blood running from his nose.

"…You….fucking….runt…" Rhino gasped before the venom finally took effect and knocked him unconscious.

Jake wasn't a killer, so he made sure his Manticore venom was non-fatal.

Strolling over to Rhino, Jake put his paws on his chest and let out a long loud roar, a roar that echoed throughout the streets and probably scared every single neighbourhood dog that heard it into a barking frenzy.

"What…the hell are you?" One of the nearby Gangsters gasped, still gripping his leg wound.

Jake looked at the Gangster, still in his Manticore form and walked over to him. His mouth closed, just a deep rumbling growl in the back of his throat.

Once close enough, Jake opened his gaping maw and said in a deep, booming voice.

" _ **Like I said, I'm Amalgam…And you guys are done in these streets"**_

The combination of the sight of several rows of razor sharp teeth, seeing this creature defeat Rhino and that voice that sounded like it came from hell, the Lead Gangster fainted out of pure shock.

" _ **Huh…that was easy"**_ Jake smiled, well….as much as a Manticore could smile.

The tell-tale sound of police sirens approaching filled the air, Jake knew that they wouldn't be too happy with the sight of a huge Manticore looming over the unconscious criminals, and he couldn't Morph back to human form yet, if he did he would probably collapse from the exhaustion from taking on such a large and powerful form.

Instead he flapped his wings and shot off out of the open glass roof. As Jake flew he began to morph, his membrane wings growing feathers, his lion fur began to morph into feathers and his lion head morphing into a beak.

Within a minute Jake had successfully morphed into an Eagle and was on his way home. Hundreds of feet below, the police were entering the warehouse with their guns raised.

Jake chalked tonight up to one big success.

* * *

About an hour later, Jake found himself landing on the ledge of the open window of his room. His house was simple enough, a two-story house, his parents weren't really well off, but they got by. His father had a career as a Bodyguard after a few years in the military, perfect careers for a big man with Spartan blood in his veins.

His father had told him his bloodline went all the way back to the battle of Thermopile, it was a nice thing to believe, even if he had no way to prove it besides a few dusty family heirlooms.

Jake shifted back into his human form and he immediately felt the energy drain on his end. In a clumsy effort to remove his 'costume' he tumbled all over the place until he fell flat on his ass, making a lot of noise.

The sound of someone running up the starts echoed before his bedroom door shot open.

"Jake?" It was Jake's mother wearing a dressing gown with her long black hair loose. Monique Jasper, Jake's 45-year-old mother.

"…Hey mom" Jake replied tiredly, trying to keep his eyes open.

"Did…did you climb in through the window?" she asked.

"…Yeah"

"…Why?" she asked with a raised brow.

"I uh…. didn't want to disturb you or dad"

"Well you failed at that" She chuckled before walking in and helping her son to his feet. Monique helped sit Jake down at his bed and helped him strip down to his boxers and tucked him in.

"Get some sleep Sweetheart. You and your father can put the shed up another day" she smiled before bending down and placing a loving kiss on Jake's forehead.

"Good night Honey, I love you" Monique whispered lovingly.

"G'night mom" Jake sleepily replied as he shut his eyes.

Morphing into something like a Mythical creature took a lot of energy out of Jake, the longer he would be in said form the more energy it would take. Turning into something so powerful was usually a last resort.

After all, he didn't want to fall asleep midway into a fight.

Monique smiled as she left the room and walked back downstairs. There sitting on the couch was her husband, Jake's father, Jacob Jasper. Jacob was a 6-foot-tall Caucasian man, but the Greek features were still visible on his face. He had a thick Leonidas beard and short black hair, emerald green eyes and tribal tats on his right arm.

Jacob had ancestry from all over the place, but his Greek Ancestry always took precedence, it was where the name Jasper came from after all. Right now, he was wearing a simple shirt and Tracksuit bottoms as he sat relaxed on the couch.

"How was the little guy?" Jacob asked with a smirk as Monique sat down and snuggled with him.

"Tired, he must have had a long night" Monique smiled.

"He takes after his old man. You remember how late I used to come back before he was born?" Jacob asked.

"How could I not? I swear, sometimes I thought you were a werewolf" Monique chuckled.

"Oh yeah, because the truth was so much less complicated" Jacob chuckled back.

"Oh, quiet you" Monique kissed her husband on the lips.

Not knowing of the conversation between his parents just downstairs, Jake fell into a deep slumber. Tonight, went well for Young Jake as he made his mark in town, with a few criminals with the name Amalgam on their lips. Rhino being one of them.

So, Jake got himself a good night's sleep, in his room full of Fantastic Four memorabilia.

 **Well everyone? What did you think? Jake Jasper AKA Amalgam enters the picture. Don't worry, his costume won't always be a hoodie, once things pick up he'll get himself a much better costume.**

 **As you can also tell, in the coming chapters Jake will be the Utility hero, being able to Morph parts of himself to suit different situations.**

 **Please tell me what you thought. Ask whatever questions you want verified. Did you like it? What did you like? Any forms you want to see Jake shift into later down the line? What do you hope to see in the future? And as always be lengthy with your reviews.**

 **Next Chapter: The Iron Hawk**


	6. The Technomancer

**Chapter 5: The Technomancer**

 **Yeah, Yeah I changed the name of the chapter, I just needed more time to think of a better title than just the name of the hero.**

 **Hey everybody, I hope you are liking the stories so far, this guy has been a lot of fun writing for, so I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

 **And please remember to check out my friend Aspiringactor's 'Marvel: Reborn' if you want another take on a Marvel Reboot.**

 ** _EDIT: yeah, Didn't notice that the I put to signify Japanese didn't show up in the doc manager when I uploaded this...my bad, Oh well its fixed now Hooray!_**

" **English"**

" _ **Synthetic voice"**_

 **Japanese**

The New York city skyline was always a spectacular view, during the day, during the night and during those special moments in-between when the sun rose and set. Here in the west the sun set, not like the homeland of man standing on the top of the roof.

There, stood on the rooftop of a very tall skyscraper stood a man around 6'5, wearing a very advanced suit of armour. The armour was equal parts sky blue and shining silver, the helmet itself had a very striking design, with two long fin-like protrusions coming from the back of the helm, the visor looked like a Hawk's mouth, inside the two glowing blue eyepieces and the flat mouthguard.

The armour itself had a very striking design, very streamlined and angular in places, obviously made for speed. There were visible thrusters on the back segment and the chest piece had a single glowing diamond shaped light in the centre.

The power source of the armour, the Arc reactor.

This man was no ordinary man, he was the Protégé of the great Tony Stark, the Invincible Iron Man.

" _Hey, rookie! You gonna keep standing there? The photoshoot isn't until next week"_

Speak of the devil.

"Oh, Uh…Tony. Sorry, I was just, uh...well" the armoured figure's posture broke into that of a nervous young man instead of the confident armoured figure anyone watching would have seen.

" _It's the armour isn't it?"_ Tony's voice came from over the comm link.

"What? No, No the armour is fine, it's great I mean its…"

" _I get it. I still get that feeling, like you are invincible, like there is nothing you can't do in that suit"_

"…Really?"

" _Oh yeah, but at the end of the day its just a feeling. You have to prove that you are the hero…not the suit"_

"I know Tony. But you have to admit it really feels badass"

" _I'm not denying it. But tonight, you have to prove that you are fit enough to wear that suit. Consider tonight your driving test"_

"You got it…Iron Hawk out"

" _This isn't the military Taka, I don't need another War Machine…don't tell Rhodey I said that by the way"_ Tony replied.

Taka Kitano, Age 19, heir to the Kitano Company, one of the largest tech suppliers in Japan, had a very peculiar background with Tony Stark.

The helmet section of Taka's helmet retracted back into his armour. Taka had spiky black hair and very bright Amber eyes, all in all Taka was a very attractive looking young man. He breathed in the New York air deeply to try and calm his nerves.

In a moment such as this, where he was about to undergo a very life changing event, Taka thought back to the events that led up to now. 4 years ago, the day the Kitano company merged with Stark Industries.

 ***4 YEARS AGO, LOCATION: OSAKA, JAPAN.**

The media buzz was insane, photographers and reporters from all over the world were swarming for a good picture of the two men standing together with their hands clasped together.

Tony Stark, the famous Iron Man and CEO of Stark Industries. Wearing a very fine-looking suit, minus the tie.

And Hirano Kitano, the CEO of the Kitano company. A Japanese man of Tony's height with slicked back black hair, wearing a very fine tailored grey suit.

Smiling at the cameras mid-handshake.

The merger of Stark and Kitano had been a big one, the most famous tech company in America and one of the biggest tech companies in Japan. Like Stark, Kitano used to be in the weapon manufacturing game, creating, developing and selling state of the art weaponry to the highest bidders from all over the world.

But after the emergence of the Avengers, Hirano ceased his companies' production of weaponry, and began to move towards development of tech that could better the world, medical technology, transport, communication, space travel, Eco-friendly energy. Kitano had begun to leave a much better impact on the world.

Beside Tony stood his personnel assistant, secretary, close personnel friend, moral compass and Fiancé, Pepper Potts. And his Chauffeur "Happy" Hogan.

Standing beside Hirano were his wife Yumi and his young 15-year-old son, Taka. Yumi was a foot shorter than Hirano, but was a beauty to behold, with her black hair tied up in a traditional bun, wearing a very formal but feminine business suit. Taka on the other hand was wearing naught else but a hoodie, an AC/DC shirt, baggy pants and sneakers.

Taka, being the young son of a Billionaire, was not exactly known for keeping up appearances. All his life he wanted for naught, so why try keeping up appearances when people would kiss your ass anyway?

Tony had to admit, the kid reminded him of himself when he was that age.

"Mr Kitano? Your company has worked strictly for the benefit of the people of Japan since its founding by your grandfather, will this merger with Stark Industries impact that?" one Japanese reporter asked as Tony and Hirano began to take questions.

"My Grandfather was a proud man, but he was from a different time. A time when we could blissfully turn a blind eye and profit from war and suffering. But we live in a new time, a time of great peace and prosperity where the people of the world can actually help one another, where companies can actually use their resources for the benefit of the future. My Grandfather's company has profited from that kind of world for too long, so in working with Mr Stark I hope we can further change this world into one that we can feel safe leaving to our children" Hirano replied, with a tone that spoke to his passion of the future of his company.

"And what about you Mr Stark? How can you see this merger with the Kitano company benefitting your efforts in any way?" another reporter asked.

"I respect Hirano for the things he has done over the past few years. I've been where he is right now, and the possibilities of the things Stark and Kitano could do together are limitless, so right about now I'm feeling a sense of pride…accomplishment…and embarrassment that I don't look as fancy as he does right now" Tony replied with a grin.

A little later after the conference, Taka was busy say down and playing games on his phone, keeping himself as occupied as he could as his parents conversed with other high-end officials in their own language.

The young Japanese boy always found stuff like this to be dull, he could have more fun with a dumpster full of electronic equipment and a box of tools, he had always been more of a techie than someone who would take interest in the running of a business.

"Hey kid, not one for conferences, right?" a familiar voice asked, snapping Taka out of his video game trance.

Taka looked up to meet eyes with Tony Stark himself.

"Not really" Taka replied in perfect English.

"Thought not, you can tell that guys with a taste in AC/DC don't really work well in board meetings or press conferences" Tony chuckled.

"I guess not…why are you talking to me?" Taka asked.

"Why not?" Tony replied with a smirk.

"Well…you are the Iron Man. I'm just a rich kid that's too bored to listen to all that company related stuff" Taka replied.

"True, but I spoke with your folks a few times and from what I've heard…you are a regular little techie aren't you?" Tony asked as he sat down beside Taka.

"I suppose so" Taka replied.

"Suppose? You are what…15 years old? And you are already at an educational level most adults aren't at yet"

It was true, Taka was a regular braincase. At the age of 15 he had an IQ of 250, he was a very quick thinker with a knack for Tech. At the age of 10 he could think circles around top-graded University students. Both his parents knew of his amazing intellect and supported his growth, he had been home schooled by some of the brightest minds in Japan, had a vast library of learning material all over his family's many property's in Tokyo, Osaka, even his mother's home in Kyoto.

A kid like Taka, they came one in a million and Tony seemed to have taken an interest in that. And why wouldn't he? People who had IQ's in the 200's had the potential to do great things in their lives, even more likely when they had the resources to do it.

"Yeah, I guess" Taka replied, shrugging.

"You guess? Wow, that's a severe lack of self-confidence if ever I saw one" Tony replied as he lay back.

Tony thought to look at the thing Taka was preoccupied with, the supposed game console. Upon closer inspection Tony realized that the young boy wasn't playing games and that wasn't a console he was playing.

"You make that yourself?" Tony asked.

"Uh, yeah" Taka replied nervously.

"Mind if I ask what that is?" Tony asked, he already had a good idea but he wanted to hear what the Young boy had to say.

"…It's an assimilation device" Taka replied nervously.

"Really? And what does that do? Nothing too dangerous I hope?" Tony smirked.

"No, no…well…maybe…if the wrong person used it. It's supposed to allow the user to manually override and connect any piece of technology they want, low tech or high tech. Once the user connects they can control the technology wirelessly" Taka replied.

"Well…that would be dangerous in the wrong hands wouldn't it?" Tony replied rhetorically.

"It's just a prototype…I don't even know if it'll work" Taka replied, crestfallen.

"I don't know…seems plausible. With the right carrier wave, the right alloys and the right energy transference…it can be done" Tony replied, leaning over to Taka.

"You…you really think so?"

"I know so…take it from a former junk techie" Tony smiled.

"Taka!" Yumi called her son to her side.

"What have I told you about wandering off to…Mr Stark?" Yumi said as Taka walked up to her with his head held low.

"Hey Mrs K" Tony smirked and waved as he sat up.

"I hope he wasn't bothering you too much Mr Stark. He wanted to come so much today, I suppose this would have happened sooner or later tonight" Yumi said as she stroked her son's hair in a worrying manner.

"Really? Because he didn't look too thrilled to be here to me"

"Oh, he was really excited, I mean you are here after all"

"Mom, please stop"

"Go on" Tony smirked with his hands in his pockets.

"You should see all the Iron Man posters he has on his walls back home. He downright worships you" Yumi chuckled.

If someone could die from embarrassment, Taka would be a corpse right now.

"Ah, a fan…I didn't know that part" Tony smirked, Taka's shyness making total sense now.

Who wouldn't be shy in front of their hero?

"Mr Stark!" Hirano called as he walked over to join Tony and his family.

"Hirano, please call me Tony. All this Mr Stark stuff makes me feel like an old fossil" Tony smiled.

"I'm sorry, but I just got finished talking with a few of my associates and I feel it would be horribly disrespectful to not invite you to stay with my family tonight back at our home" Hirano offered.

"Oh, Hirano I don't want to impose"

"Please, your presence would be a great honour to us" Hirano offered again.

Tony looked around, catching sight of Pepper, who was in deep conversation with a few of the other guests and let out a sigh. Pepper would give him an earful if they didn't spend at least one night in Osaka.

"Alright, I accept your invitation" Tony smiled as he reached out his hand and shook Hirano's.

The rest of the night went down as one would expect. Tony and Pepper joining Hirano and his family for dinner, engaging in conversation about the future, Tony telling anecdotes about his adventures as the Iron Man. Anecdotes that Taka paid close attention to, as much as he tried to act like he wasn't interested.

The night went along fast and Taka's parents bid goodnight to Tony and Pepper. The property they were staying at was huge, so there would be a floor or two separating the two couples. Taka wished he could say he got the most out of meeting his hero, but once again his shy nature seemed to get in the way.

Taka had always had problems making friends, being home-schooled because of his high IQ didn't help, neither did being the son of a multi-millionaire. All he had were his parents, and his admiration for his hero Iron Man.

But there, in the wee hours of the night, tucked in his bed, young Taka tried getting to sleep. That was, until he heard the sounds coming from next door.

His parents' room.

The sound was slight, like a thud followed by his mother letting out a gasp. Getting out of bed as quietly as he could, Taka slowly crept out of his room and towards his parents' room.

As Taka crept closer and closer he began to hear voices, unfamiliar voices, speaking in Japanese. By the time he got to the door he had heard at least 6 different voices that didn't belong to his parents. Luckily for Taka he would be able to peak through the crack in his parents' door, his curious young mind thirsty for answers.

You should have known this would come Kitano. The moment you signed that merger this was all but inevitable a new, deep voice could be heard inside the room.

Taka peeked inside the crack in the door, and what he saw chilled him to his core.

Both his parents were being held hostage, his father was being restrained by two Japanese men wearing black suits and sunglasses. Another man, dressed similarly had a Tanto knife at his mother's throat. The pins on their suit jackets immediately identified what they were.

Yakuza.

There were about 6 Yakuza all around the room, the two holding his father, the one holding his mother, two more that had handguns and one with an Uzi. The deep voice that spoke however came just behind the door, and Taka couldn't quite see the man it came from.

 **Please, don't do this. This is not the way forward** Hirano replied, gasping for breath. Judging by the bruises and cut open lip, the Yakuza thugs had went over him a bit.

 **Whether or not this is right course it a moot point. Your death was agreed amongst the council, this is nothing personnel Mr Kitano, it's simply…** the voice continued until it paused near the end of a sentence.

Taka listened carefully, but his concentration was broken as the door swung open, knocking Young Taka onto his back. A red armoured hand lunging forward and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

The next few seconds were a blur as Taka was raised at least 5 feet off of the ground, all attention in the room focused on the young Japanese boy and the figure that held him up. Once Taka got his bearings back he laid eyes on the figure holding him.

It was a large man, at least 6'10, dressed in form fitting black robes, like those one would expect a shaolin monk to wear, only his forearms, hands and shins were encased in scarlet red armour. His hair was white, long and spiky, reaching down the bottom of his shoulder blades. The lower half of his face was also covered in a red armoured visor, his mouth, nose and cheeks could not be seen.

His eyes were completely black with red iris'.

This man was not a regular man.

Strapped to his belt were two Katana style swords of varying length.

 **Well, well, well…what have we here? Would this be little Taka?** the shape of the man's eyes curving as if he were smiling behind his mask.

 **Don't you dare…** Hirano gritted his teeth in anger before the two Yakuza pulled him back.

 **I wouldn't get any ideas Hirano. Now that your son is here. I might just…get carried away** the man smiled as he slowly unsheathed the shorter of his two katanas.

 **Please don't hurt him!** Yumi borderline cried as tears entered her eyes.

Taka was frozen in absolute fear, both his parents now powerless to help him and the man holding him aloft with a katana in one hand was nothing short of terrifying. The gathered Yakuza all seemed to be on the same boat, hanging on this man's every word and action.

The man simply chuckled before sheathing his Katana.

 **You are lucky boy, I've decided to make this…just a bit more fun** the man almost threw Taka at one of the other Yakuza, who quickly pulled out a knife and held it to his throat.

 **You sick Bastard** Hirano growled as he pulled against the Yakuza.

 **Ah,ah,ah…behave** the man waved his finger as the Yakuza held their blades closer to Yumi and Taka's throats. The Yakuza wrestled Hirano onto his knees, in a few seconds both Yumi and Taka were in the same predicament.

 **You brought this upon yourself Hirano, you shouldn't have gone against the council's wishes** the man said as he crouched down in front of Hirano.

 **The Council had an agreement with your father…first you ceased weapon production, and now you've gone and split the company with Stark…you were just begging for this to happen** the Stranger leaned forward, face to face with Hirano.

 **You should have stuck to what you knew…now…well…** the Stranger said, stopping mid-sentence.

Taka swore he blinked, the moment his eyes opened, the stranger was holding his short katana out, and Hirano's blood was dripping from the blade.

 **HIRANO!** Yumi screamed at the top of her lungs as her husband's throat was opened up, his blood spraying all over the floor below him.

The Stranger leaned forward, facing the dying Hirano and smiled behind his mask **Oh…did I forget to mention…your dear wife and son were part of the contract, so don't worry…they'll be with you soon** he whispered, only loud enough for Hirano to hear.

Taka could only stare in horror as his father's face quickly turned pale as the blood drained from him, his once bright and vibrant eyes turning dark before he went limp in the arms of the Yakuza, with a nod the stranger signalled to the yakuza to let go of Hirano's body.

With a thud, Hirano Kitano was dropped unceremoniously to the floor, falling face first in a pool of his own blood.

 **Quiet, or your son is next** the stranger threatened as he unsheathed his long Katana and held it to Yumi's throat.

Yumi's eyes streamed with tears, her husband was just brutally murdered in front of her and her son was still in mortal danger. The emotions she was feeling at the moment were overpowering as she began to tremble almost uncontrollably.

That's when a sound could be heard, slicing through the tension in the room, everyone went silent.

A slight rumble could be heard, the Yakuza all drawing their firearms and looking around them. The stranger grabbed Yumi by the scruff of her neck and held her in front of him, the blade of his katana against her throat.

 **Go and check outside** the stranger calmly ordered the two Yakuza who were previously holding Yumi.

The two Yakuza readied their pistols and left the room, closing the door behind them.

Taka was still stuck there, staring at the body of his father, the lifeless eyes vacant of expression still open. The tears welled up in the young boy's eyes as his mother was powerless to comfort him, stuck in the arms of the man that had killed her husband.

A few moments of silence passed until.

*TWACK!**CLANG**BANG,BANG**CLANG**WIIIIIFWOOOSH*

A loud combination of loud metallic clangs, a few gunshots followed by another metallic clank and a sound that Taka recognised very well sounded on the other side of the door.

The stranger's grip tightened.

The door was ripped asunder a few seconds later and standing there in all his metallic glory was Tony Stark, the Iron Man himself, glad in red and gold. His eyes and chest piece glowing in the dark lighting of the room.

"Of course, I should have seen this coming" the Stranger sighed in English, keeping his katana pressed against Yumi's throat.

Tony raised both his hands, the palms glowing with their repulsars, the Iron Man now stuck in a Mexican standoff with the Yakuza and the Stranger. Tony saw the corpse of Hirano on the floor and let out an audible growl of anger, made more intimidating by the voice modulator of his suit.

" _I'll only say this once…put down your weapons and surrender…and I'll only beat you within an inch of your life"_ Tony borderline growled at the Stranger.

"What an enticing offer Mr Stark…but unfortunately, I've completed one third of my contract, and I won't leave until its complete" The Stranger replied bluntly.

" _Alright then"_ Tony replied. All of a sudden, the dart launchers in his back opened fire. The darts fired, striking the Yakuza holding Taka in between their eyes, killing them instantly.

The Stranger however swung his katana and deflected the darts away, a few metallic sparks as the darts failed to hit their mark. Yumi quickly tried to lunge towards her son, to escape the conflict, but unfortunately the Stranger was much to fast.

And with a flash of silver and a spray of red, Yumi's back was sliced wide open. The Stranger's katana carving through flesh and bone like they were butter.

The Stranger didn't falter as he pulled a Kunai from his belt and threw it in the direction of Taka. Tony acted quickly and fired a Repulsar blast at the Kunai, sending it flying back in the direction it came.

Tony shoulder tackled the Stranger into the nearest wall, the power of his tackle making a crater in the wall. The Stranger growled and grabbed Tony's armoured helm before delivering a surprisingly powerful headbutt. Tony staggered back and when he got his bearings back the Stranger took a swing with his katana. Tony raised his forearm to block it, expecting the powerful alloy of his armour to break the simple steel Katana.

*CLANG!*

Tony's eyes widened as the Katana was unharmed, the Stranger grinning behind his mask. "Not what you were expecting I assume?" he cackled.

Taka broke into a mad dash to his mother, cradling her head in his lap. Yumi was not dead yet, but she was losing blood fast.

 **Taka…my little Taka, is that you?** Yumi asked, reaching out for her son.

 **I'm here mother** Taka's voice trembled.

Tony and the Stranger were exchanging blows on the other side of the room. Tony's armour managing to withstand the attacks from the Stranger's katana, and somehow the Stranger able to withstand the power of the Iron Man's physical attacks.

The Stranger was very powerful and had much skill in hand to hand combat. But as their fight raged on it became very apparent that Tony with his suit was too much for the Stranger and his sword.

He wasn't prepared for a one on one with the armoured Avenger.

Quickly diving towards the window, the Stranger turned one last time, pulling another kunai from his belt and rearing back, ready to fling it at Taka. Only before he had the chance to throw.

*TIIIFWOOOOOSH!*

Tony fired his Uni-beam at the Stranger, blasting him out of the window. The shatter of glass following him as he fell from the multi-story building. Tony quickly ran to the window and looking outward he saw the Stranger had vanished without a trace.

"Dammit" Tony gritted his teeth as his faceplate retracted, revealing his face.

Tony turned to see Taka, cradling his mother's head in his lap, the Japanese woman laying in a pool of her own blood. You didn't need to be a doctor to know that after losing that much blood, it was only inevitable what was coming next.

"Tony, what is going…Oh my god" Pepper ran into the room, wearing a nightgown. She stopped and placed her hand over her mouth in shock at the sight of the little boy and his dying mother.

"Yumi…help is on the way, just hold on a little longer, can you do that?" Tony knelt down beside Taka and Yumi, trying to give the woman something to hold onto.

"Mr Stark…is…is Taka safe?" Yumi asked, her eyes going dark and her voice weak.

"Yeah…He's safe" Tony replied.

"Please…pro…protect him" Yumi stuttered as the tears stopped falling and her hands went limp.

Taka's eyes widened and tears began to stream down his face almost uncontrollably. The young boy wept as he had become an orphan, his hands stained red with the blood of his mother, and the floor turned crimson with the blood of his father.

Pepper knelt down besides Taka and held him to her chest, rubbing his back to try her best to comfort him. She looked to Tony with pain in her eyes, the boy in her arms had just lost everything.

The only thing Tony or Pepper could do in that moment was keep Taka safe…until the police arrived to sort this mess out.

 ***HOURS LATER**

Tony and Pepper thought it best to stay with Taka, the young boy had just been through a very traumatic experience. Every since his mother stopped moving he hadn't said a word, for the first half hour he merely cried as Pepper held him close. After that he just stared blankly off into space, as if his young mind was still trying to process what had happened to him.

The police had arrested the unconscious Yakuza, were analysing the crime scene and taking pictures of the bodies of Hirano and Yumi for evidence. Pepper had taken Taka down to one of the lower floors and had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.

It was best he didn't have to see his parent's bodies be taken away when forensics were done.

Tony was describing the Stranger's appearance to the police, luckily the detective he was talking to was very fluent in English as he took down a composite sketch of the culprit.

Pepper held Taka close to her, she couldn't imagine being in the young boy's shoes. Merely a few hours ago the young boy was having the time of his life, getting to meet his hero in the flesh. Now he was here, all alone.

"I'm sorry, but…do you mind repeating that?" Tony asked with a look of confusion on his face.

"It's right here in the contract Mr Stark, Paragraph 9, sentence 6 _"In the event of my death all of my assets and shares will transfer to my wife Yumi, in the event of both of our deaths all my shares, assets and controlling stock in the company will transfer to my son Taka when he is of age. Until then he is to be left in the care and guardianship of Mr Anthony Stark"_ and right here is your signature sir" the Japanese officer replied, holding the contract up for Tony to read.

All Tony did was ask the police what was going to happen to Taka now that his parents were dead. He all but expected them to say he would be put into police protection or he would be sent to a Foster home or something…what he got in response was the last thing he expected.

"But, doesn't he have any other relatives? A close aunt or uncle? A Butler for god's sake?" Tony asked.

"No Mr Stark. Mr and Mrs Kitano's parents are deceased, they were both only children and even if they did have relatives, the contract clearly states he is to be placed in your care. Both parties agreed to this contract and now with one half of the parties deceased…it is hardly up for debate" the Officer replied.

Tony squeezed the bridge of his nose, as if tonight wasn't bad enough, now he was saddled with an incredibly tough decision. The decision that could change a young boy's life for the better.

Or for worse.

 ***FLASHBACK END**

Taka remained stood on the rooftop, the silver of his armour shimmering in the moonlight. The glowing blue light emitted by the eyepieces of his helmet making him look very ominous in the dead of night.

Taka often reminisced about that night. About the reasons why Tony and Pepper decided to ultimately take him in. From knowing what kind of man Tony was, it wasn't too farfetched to think that Tony took him in begrudgingly at first, but when learning about his aptitude for technology and his Astounding IQ he decided to make an Apprentice out of him.

Taka remembered it clearly. Tony once left the entrance to the hall of armours unlocked and a Young Taka let his curiosity get the better of him. By the time Tony came back Taka had already assembled a Repulsar array from the spare parts left on the worktable. Not only that but a Plasma Repulsar array that used aspects of the technology the Kitano company was known for.

Needless to say, Tony was impressed and probably made up his mind at that moment to take Taka under his wing.

Over the course of 4 years Tony had trained Taka in the art of Suit combat, letting Taka train in flight simulators and familiarize himself with the technology that let the Iron Man suits function. With an IQ in the high 200's it wasn't too difficult for Taka to absorb what Tony taught him, and when Tony knew Taka was ready, he helped him design and create his own suit.

Now by help, Tony provided the tools and the materials. The suit Taka now wore was his creation, he had designed and built it from scratch.

Taka was not Iron Man. Nor did he want to be, Iron Man was a title that Tony created and earned through his years of heroism. Wearing that name or suit would be like Taka wearing the medals of a War Veteran.

He had to make his own name, and he had to earn it.

Standing there on the side of the rooftop with his helmet up, he scanned the streets below, the computing systems of his armour were on par with Tony's. Being able to retroactively map out the city and all its inhabitants with a combination of Sonar, already existing city maps, satellite imagery and even a bit of social media.

Right now, he was looking for a suitable mark.

" _Mr Kitano, I believe I have found what you are looking for"_ the Synthetic voice of the AI JARVIS rang inside the confines of Taka's helmet. Tony thought it best that if he wasn't always going to be there for Taka, he could at least have the AI give him some assistance.

"Give me numbers JARVIS, on a scale of 1 to 10…what are we looking at?"

" _For Mr Stark this would rank a 5…but for you I would consider it a high 8"_

"Ok then, let's…wait…what's that supposed to mean? Why is it lower for Tony?"

" _Mr Stark is much more experienced in combatting this particular threat, you however would probably have more trouble"_

"Ugh, you don't have to hold it over my head JARVIS. Just tell me where the threat is" Taka asked, facepalming, his gauntlet making a metallic clang against his helmet's faceplate.

"… _very well, coordinates are…"_

* * *

"Fall back!" one cop screamed at the top of his lungs, dragging another cop to safety. The flaming wreckage of their car serving as temporary cover.

There were about 20 cops, half wearing riot gear, but right now they were in full retreat. 3 cop cars now rendered burning husks of warped scrap metal. The officers had cordoned off a large portion of the surrounding area to where the incident was happening.

"Godammit, can we get some heavy support here? Where the hell is Stark when you need him?" the police chief cursed out loud as his men were in full retreat.

"Sir Mr Stark said help would be arriving soon!" another officer replied, having to shout over the sound of heavy gunfire.

"Good, we just have to hold out a little longer" the chief replied.

*KABOOOOM!*

Another squad car was blown to smithereens as a rocket projectile flew through the air and crashed into its side. The officers were under heavy fire and were retreating as best they could, but they weren't equipped to fight people this well armed.

"Easier said that done sir!" one of the SWAT officers yelled over the sound of gunfire.

It wasn't long however until the tell-tale sound of repulsar flight got louder and louder. The Police all released a collective sigh of relief as it seemed like Iron Man was arriving on the scene. But the figure that landed beside the Chief a few seconds later was not the armoured hero they were expecting.

Yes, he had the arc reactor, and the repulsars and even a similar landing pose.

But the man standing in front of their chief was not Iron Man.

"We…we were expecting Iron Man" the chief admitted as he stood in front of the armoured figure.

Taka felt his excitement drop a bit, this was to be expected, but he had to prove himself first.

" _Mr Stark sent me Sir. Heard you had a bit of a pest problem"_ Taka asked, his synthetic voice definitely getting everyone's attention.

"A Pest problem is an understatement. We have at least 10 gunmen holding down those apartment buildings, all heavily armed, with tech beyond what we've got. We would have gone in closer but they have hostages" The chief explained.

" _Doesn't sound like too much of a problem"_ Taka replied with a confident tone.

"Just don't get too cocky kid, the perps are working for a Meta…Mac Gargan, you heard of him?" the chief asked.

" _The Scorpion? I thought he was locked up"_ Taka replied.

"He was, but he broke out on a transfer ship on its way to the raft along with the 10 men inside. Where they got a hold of the weapons we don't know, now do you think you can handle it?" The chief asked, but when he turned to look at Taka the armoured hero had already shot off above the building.

"Ah, geez…cocky bastard" The chief murmured as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the building the gunmen were on guard. 7 men at the windows ready to reign down on the police should they get too brave and another 3 watching the hostages to make sure nobody got brave.

All of the gunmen were holding heavy machine guns and were dressed in riot gear. Armour they had raided along with the weaponry they were utilizing.

Right now, one of said gunmen approached their leader. A large man, about 6 and a half foot tall, wearing a dark green battle suit that framed his muscular form. A huge mechanical scorpion tail swaying back and forth as he sat down.

"Uh boss…me and the fellas were wonderin…when are we gonna start making demands?" the gunman asked.

"We make our demands, when they ask us for them. We cannot look weak, soon they'll bring in at least one of the heroes…I just hope it's the bug" Gargan growled, his hands clasped in front of him.

Gargan's old outfit looked tame compared to this new one. It was darker, more scorpion-like in design, more like an armoured carapace not just a green spandex costume. His forearm armour was bulkier than the rest, obviously hiding some new weaponry, his mask was the same with the exception of his mouth being covered.

"But boss…what are our demands gonna be?"

"Whatever I dam well please! Now get back to watching those hostages!" the Scorpion growled, his mechanical tail arching in response to his anger. The gunman immediately doing what he said and leaving the room.

Gargan had spent one to many years in a prison cell, thinking of ways to make the Spider Pay. He would use his new suit and its new toys to do just that.

The gunman approached some of his cohorts, machine gun still in hand and with a hushed whisper asked "Do ya think the boss is ok?"

To which the other gunman replied in a hushed tone "He hasn't been the same since the beatdown the Bug's girlfriend gave him. She threw him around by the tail like a ragdoll…even asked if the tail was him compensating for something"

"Geez, no wonder he's pissed" the first gunman replied as he leaned back against the wall. in front of them in the middle of the small room were 6 people, a mother, father and their 5-year-old son, an old couple in their 80's, and a young woman who looked about 25.

All 6 of the hostages looked scared as they sat down in the middle of the room. 3 armed gunmen all watching their every move.

The parents tried their best to keep their son from crying. The mother trying to comfort him and tell him everything was alright. The old couple trying to stay quiet and the young woman looking like she was on the edge of having a panic attack.

"You keep that little shit quiet or I'll put a bullet in him!" one of the gunmen threatened, cocking his gun.

As the child cried, the gunman raised his gun "I said shut that little shit up!" he shouted as he kept his gun trained on the crying child.

But before he had a chance to fire his weapon, a steel-clad fist shot through the wall and a small projectile fired out the wrist.

When the projectile impacted upon the Gunman he was shocked with 50,000 volts of electricity. His muscles seized and he fell to the floor, the other two gunmen went to attack but another fist breached the wall and fired an electrified net at the other.

The other two gunmen were instantly neutralized as they fell in a heap to the floor, spasming under the voltage of the electric net.

The wall crumbled as the two steel-clad hands tore it down, leaving a large archway. Standing in the archway was a blue and silver armoured figure with glowing blue eyes and a glowing light in the centre of the chest piece.

"I-Iron Man?" the young woman asked.

" _Not quite, go down the stairs through here, they'll lead out to the street below, follow the road until you get to the police…I've got this"_ Taka replied as he effortlessly ripped off the bonds that kept the hostages bound.

"Thank you, young man, thank you" the older woman thanked Taka as he helped them to their feet.

" _Just get out of here ok?"_ Taka asked with a smile behind his faceplate. The hostages quickly made their way out through the hole that Taka had made in his dramatic entrance.

He cracked his neck back and forth, knowing that the commotion he had created would be drawing quite a bit of attention.

Marching into the open, Taka was immediately met with the spray of heavy gunfire. Bullets rattling and ricocheting off his armour as they failed to pierce the high tech alloy of his suit. The ten men who had previously been occupied with keeping the police at a distance were now concentrating all of their fire on Taka.

" _Mind giving me a scan JARVIS?"_ Taka asked.

" _Of course, Master Kitano. It seems that the weapons are HAMMER Tech in origin"_ JARVIS replied.

" _Oh goodie, nothing to worry about then"_ Taka's armour revealed its shoulder mounted guns.

"…Ah shit" one of the gunmen cursed before he and his cohorts were shot with non-lethal, but very painful projectiles. The advanced targeting systems of Taka's armour managing to find the weakest points in their armour.

Within a few seconds Taka had neutralized all ten of the Gunmen, either unconscious, immobilised or in serious pain. Taka dusted himself off, the gunfire only having lightly damaged the paint job on his armour.

Taka walked through the other rooms of the building, his arms raised and repulsar beams charged up, ready to fire at a moment's notice. After checking all the rooms, he was confident that the Scorpion had turned tail and run. It certainly made Taka feel better about his abilities if he could make the Scorpion run.

He would have preferred if he could have took Gargan in, but this wasn't going to be a flawless first run.

" _Well…that wasn't so…"_

*TWACK!*

Taka was sent flying through the air at a breakneck speed. He found his armoured form crashing through a wall, straight into the street below, right in front of the police as he fell right into the wreckage of one of the squad cars.

"… _..oooow"_ Taka groaned in pain.

" _Master Kitano…I believe that hit broke a rib and has caused a minor concussion"_ JARVIS announced.

" _You think?"_ Taka grunted in reply as he squeezed his eyes shut in pain.

"Well, you aren't what I expected" a gruff voice said as Taka felt something constrict around his neck.

Taka was hoisted up a few feet off of the ground, gasping as the force constricting his throat got stronger. Opening his eyes Taka found himself staring at a very intimidating sight. The top half of the Scorpion's face was encased in an armoured helmet, and in place of two eyepieces was a red multi-eyed visor, resembling the multiple eyes of a scorpion.

Needless to say, it was a hell of a lot more intimidating than a green ski mask.

"You aren't Iron Man…but you sure as hell look like him" Scorpion commented before he hurled Taka right back into the far wall.

With a shattering thud, bricks and mortar fell around Taka as the brick wall crumbled under the weight and the force behind the Scorpion's tail.

" _Taka, it appears that the Scorpion's suit has increased his already superhuman strength"_ JARVIS commented.

" _Yeah…I noticed"_ Taka groaned as he pulled himself free from the wall.

The police opened fire upon the Scorpion, riddling his armoured hide with bullets, but with an annoyed growl the supervillain lashed out with his tail and flipped one of the wrecked squad cars into their midst.

"Shit, TAKE COVER!" the chief yelled out, but before the car landed, a silver and blue blur appeared in front of them and caught the burning wreck.

" _I think you dropped this"_ Taka grinned before hurling the wreck right back at the Scorpion.

With a metallic crash, the burning wreck collided with the Scorpion, sending him hurdling back into the building. Taka looked back at the chief and asked "You guys ok?"

"Never mind us, Kick his ass!" the chief replied with a smile.

Taka gave him and thumbs up before turning his attention back to Gargan.

"JARVIS…if you wouldn't mind" Taka smirked behind his faceplate.

" _Engaging advanced combat mode"_ Jarvis replied.

The plates covering Taka's elbows, calfs and shoulder blades came to life, revealing additional Repulsar thrusters. The ones on his shoulders extended into fin-like thrusters that reached as high as his head.

The interior HUD of Taka's armour changed from the blue design to a crimson red, the eyepieces of his helmet changing from two blue eyes to a single red bar.

Gargan growled as he raised up his arms, and from the two large gauntlets came two curved arm blades resembling Scorpion claws. His tail curved and he growled viscously "I had hoped to save these for the bug…then again, they could use a test run"

But before Gargan had a chance to charge at Taka, the young hero's repulsars fired and he was sent hurdling into Gargan at top speeds. As soon as he was close enough, Taka grabbed Gargan and rocketed up into the sky with him, taking his as far away as possible from the innocent bystanders and the police.

This fight was his.

As Taka sped through the air with Gargan in his grip he found himself within range for the Scorpion's attacks. Gargan lunged at him, his arm blades skimming against parts of Taka's armour as the young man did his best to avoid getting cut in the joints.

But with every swing of the Scorpion's armblades, Taka responded in kind with a powerful gauntleted punch. The connection of Taka's metal plated fist and the Scorpion's helmet resulted in a hail of sparks, the same as when his wristblades raked against Taka's armour.

Taka eventually threw Gargan through a stone wall, sending mortar and stone crumbling under the weight of the supervillain. The Scorpion growled before arching his tail and firing a spray of concentrated acid at Taka. Luckily the young hero flew out of the way with lightning fast speed.

Gargan looked around to get his bearings and found that the young armoured hero had thrown him into what looked like a construction site. This late at night Taka wouldn't have to worry about harming innocent civilians nor destroying anyone's home. Tony had half of the city insured in case of things like this happening.

"Alright tin boy…just you and me then" Gargan scraped his armblades together, sparks flying from the friction of the two carbon steel blades.

Gargan turned on the spot, waiting for Taka to come flying from any direction. But what he wasn't expecting was for two armoured hands to burst through the floor and grab Gargan by his ankles. Before he knew what hit him, Gargan fell through the floor itself, before being slammed on his back by the armoured figure that flew him here in the first place.

Gargan propelled himself off the floor with his tail and lunged at Taka, grabbing him by the neck with a huge armoured hand.

"You little shit!" Gargan growled as he picked Taka up and slammed him into the floor. The Scorpion reared his tail back and sent it flying forward, ready to stab Taka dead centre in his face.

Taka moved his head, dodging the attack and retorted by charging up his arc reactor and firing his Unibeam. The beam of concentrated Repulsar energy blasted Gargan upwards through several floors of concrete.

Not enough to knock him out, but certainly enough to hurt.

Taka let out a pained gasp as he rolled onto his side 'How the hell does Tony do this all the time?' he thought to himself. As Taka stood up he powered up the repulsars in his feet, looking up he saw the Scorpion plummeting downwards.

Taka shot upwards and met the Scorpion head on, crashing into Gargan's back with a brutal shoulder tackle which resulted in a shockwave.

"AGH!" The Scorpion cried out in pain under the impact of the hit.

Take wrapped his arms around the waist of the Scorpion from behind, and once his feet touched the floor again he lifted him off the ground and slammed him backwards in a devastating German suplex.

Taka got back up to his feet but was lashed in the face by the Scorpion's mechanical tail. Taka was sent flying backwards and crashed into a stone pillar, and before he had a chance to react.

" _GAAAAAGH!"_ Taka screamed out in pain as he felt a slicing metallic pain in his arm. Looking down, he found that the Scorpion had impaled him through his right arm, before he had the chance to grab the blade he felt the Mechanical tail wrap tightly around his left arm and yank it back.

"I must admit kid…you had me worried there for a while. But it's obvious…you are green" Scorpion smirked as his helmet retracted revealing his eyes.

" _Go to hell"_ Taka grunted, gritting his teeth in pain as blood began to drip down the wound.

"You first kid. But really I want to know what was going through your head…I've been trading blows with the Spider and stronger for years…what made you think you stood a chance?" Gargan grinned.

"Guys like you…are the reason I put on this suit. Guys like you…who think just because you have power you can take what you want and no one will stop you. Guys like you, who ruin people's lives and leave them unable to heal" Taka replied as sweat poured down his face.

"As touching as this is, I would rather take your head and be done with it" Gargan's helmet covered the top part of his head and he reared back, extending the blade on his other arm.

But as the Scorpion reared back, Taka felt his mind go back.

All the way back to that night.

Instead of the armoured Scorpion…what he saw was the man with the white hair, dressed in black, and those black and red eyes glaring into his soul.

The man that took his parents from him.

Taka roared in anger as he lifted his feet from the ground and pointed them at Gargan, before the Scorpion could react he was blasted full force with the repulsars in Taka's armoured boots. His blade remained stuck in Taka's arm but his tail became loose and allowed Taka to use his other arm again.

Using his now freed arm he grabbed Gargan's tail used it to bring him face to face with Taka. The young hero began with an onslaught of wild punches before firing a Repulsar blast point blank in Gargan's face.

Out of the wrist segment of Taka's arm shot out a foot long blade. Electricity coated the blade as Taka raised his arm. Taka let out a furious roar as he brought his arm down in a chop and effortlessly cut off the arm blade that kept his other arm pinned.

Scorpion's arm blades were Carbon steel, but Taka had access to much stronger material than he did.

Taka then angrily tore his arm from the broken blade, blood spurting from the wound as he did. Now free, Taka continued his assault on the Scorpion, like a man possessed he threw punches and kicks viciously without restraint.

He used the repulsars in his armour to enhance the force and speed of his attacks, until he was like blur that Gargan could not keep up with. Unbeknownst to Gargan, Taka was very skilled in hand to hand combat, especially Bushido.

He was traditional that way.

After a particularly devastating roundhouse that sent the Scorpion reeling, Taka ran and jumped and with a short jump landed an equally devastating repulsar powered superman punch. Once his fist connected with Gargan's face, the Scorpion's helmet cracked down the middle.

All Taka could see in front of his was the face of the man that took his parents away from him. All he saw was the long white mane of hair and those piercing black and red eyes. That red metallic mask that covered his identity.

Taka did not see Gargan.

All he saw was the face of a man he despised.

As Taka reighned down with fury open Gargan, the Scorpion's defences began to crumble. He tried to attack the young man with his other arm-blade, but Taka merely caught it and snapped it in half before delivering a brutal elbow to the Scorpion's face, further fracturing his helmet.

The red eyepieces of the Scorpion's helmet powered down due to the heavy damage and shards of armour began to splinter and fall.

Taka reared his right hand back, and powered up the repulsars in his right elbow, and finally with one devastating, repulsar powered right hook, the Scorpion's helmet shattered into a million pieces, falling to the floor like glass.

Gargan stumbled back, his head ringing, his nose bleeding and his vison blurred. Both his arm blades were broken and his armour was bent and dented. Taka tackled Gargan to the floor and got into a full mount, once Taka had done so he began reigning down left and right hooks, battering the Scorpion's face into meat.

Gargan soon lost consciousness a full 20 seconds before Taka stopped. The young man shook his head, gasping for air as he ceased his assault. He sat there, in a full mount with the unconscious body of the Scorpion beneath him.

Gargan's face looked like a bloody purple mess of meat, blood running from his nose and the sides of his mouth as his right eye was swollen shut.

The visage of the Stranger that killed his parents was gone.

" _Mr Kitano? Are you alright?"_ JARVIS asked, snapping Taka out of his stupor.

" _I'm fine JARVIS…just…just finished with Gargan here"_ Taka said as he stood up straight.

" _Very good sir. Powering down Advanced combat mode"_ JARVIS announced as the extra thrusters powered down and retracted beneath his armour plates. His eyes went from red back to blue and his interior HUD went back to normal.

" _Did…Did Tony see that?"_ Taka asked.

" _Did Tony see what?"_ the voice of Tony came from behind him. Taka turned around and was met with the sight of his mentor and guardian. Stood there, clad in gold and red armour, was Iron Man. Tony had his arms folded and had apparently been watching the entire thing.

" _Uh…Hi Tony. I uh…I…"_ Taka stuttered.

" _You did good kid"_ Tony smiled behind his faceplate.

" _But I…Excuse me?"_ Taka began, realizing halfway through his comments that Tony had complimented him.

"Fighting someone like Gargan on your first rhodeo. It's not something to be sniffed at, suit or no suit" Tony said after his helmet retracted into his armour. He walked past Taka and looked down on the unconscious supervillain.

"Well, Gargan won't be winning any beauty pageants anytime soon. Then again he wasn't exactly RDJ to begin with" Tony chuckled.

"You…you're not angry?" Taka asked as his helmet retracted, revealing his face. Taka looked like the spitting image of his father, a very defined and sharp look, like a Samurai. His hair was short, almost shaved at the sides, while his hair in the middle was combed to the right and dyed blue near the tip.

What could Taka say? Blue was his favourite colour?

"Well…you could have controlled your temper a lot better" Tony replied as he stood up and faced Taka.

"I'm sorry I…I just saw his face. I still have nightmares about it" Taka replied.

"I would be worried if you didn't. But what you have to understand is that I didn't help you make this armour to get revenge. I have no doubt that you'll cross paths with that guy again, I helped you get this far so that when it happens you'll be ready, and to make sure you use this…" Tony reached forward and tapped a finger against Taka's forehead.

"…to its fullest potential. To do good" Tony smiled.

"Thanks Tony" Taka smiled.

"Now come on. It's time to turn this guy in…and introduce the world to its newest hero…You thought of a name yet?" Tony asked.

"Yeah…How about…Iron Hawk?" Taka smiled.

 **WELL EVERYONE? WHAT DIDYA THINK? Taka Kitano AKA Iron Hawk, Protégé to Iron Man, or as I would like to call him "Better in every conceivable way to Riri Williams"**

 **And I suppose you guys probably think "Hey, Dakkaman777? Why not just have Riri Williams in this role instead? Could have saved you a lot of work ya know?"**

 **GOOD QUESTION! And I have more than a few answers:**

 **1-I promised myself there would be no Mary Sues in this story, having Riri would have broken that promise.**

 **2-I'm NOT MODERN MARVEL COMICS…I won't throw aside an established fan-loved hero to replace them with a character whose only identifiable trait is "Different skin colour" or "Different gender" to try and appeal to some half arsed diversity quota.**

 **3-Riri is an insufferable, annoying, self-entitled, badly written, badly drawn, Mary Sue. One that doesn't deserve to even say "I am Iron Man" yet alone put on the armour. I can not in good conscience write a story featuring a character that even remotely resembles a character I despise….unless I'm writing their horrible, gruesome death.**

 **4-I don't want to write a character with no development. Look up something called 'The Hero's Journey' it's a vital part of character writing. Riri doesn't have a journey, she is boring, static, one note and unrelatable…seriously, fuck this character and fuck whoever wrote her.**

 **Now that I got THAT off my chest, I can bet there are some assholes reading (or simply skipping over my reasons like dickheads) that are thinking of calling me a racist or a sexist…Grow up.**

 ***DEEP BREATH* well…now that I answered your question I will be glad to answer any other ones. Please be sure to leave Lengthy reviews. REVIEWS GIVE ME THE POWER I NEED TO KEEP WRITING, SO FEED ME MOOOOORE!**

 **As for the Scorpion's revised look in this one, I wanted him to be more of a threat, not only in nature but appearance, and after seeing the Vulture in Homecoming I came to the conclusion that Mech suit based Spiderman villains are the SHIT.**

 **Also Scorpion (and Rhino for that matter) will be appearing later on with their more tech based looks.**

 **A/N Taka's Helmet design, in case you were wondering what it basically looks like. Imagine a Metalic version of the Legiana helmet from Monster Hunter World.**

 **So Len Ryder, Cara Moriarty, Jake Jasper and Taka Kitano - 4 down…2 left…and these two are very special to me, cuz this isn't the first time I've written these next two.**

 **Next Time, be prepared for a TWO PARTER! And prepare for the coming of the Twins. Viktor Harrigan and Cyrus Harrigan.**

 **Chapter 6: The Immortals Pt1**


	7. The Immortals, Part 1

**The Immortals, Part 1**

 **Here we are, the final stretch before the story truly begins. Only two heroes to go and the best part is they are both here.**

 **Remember to check out Aspiringactor's Marvel Reborn for more of that Marvel reboot goodness.**

 **Now, without further ado, let us begin.**

It was a dark and clear night. The stars shone brightly in the sky and the animals in the woods below crept along the floor silently. Squirrels climbing into the trees to avoid the stalking predators below. Owls perched on tree branches, waiting and watching for a passing mouse or rat to scurry by.

Foxes and badgers crept silently, making as little noise as they could.

And there in the middle of the woods was a Rabbit. A brown furred little thing that was busy grazing.

Now the law of the wild was ruthless and unkind to the foolhardy. And this rabbit had made a grave mistake in grazing this late in the night and out in the open too.

It also made the mistake…

*TWIP!*

…of grazing upwind of its predator.

A single arrow shaft had carved through the air and nailed the rabbit dead in the centre of its chest, killing it instantly.

A figure rose from the bushes and quickly made its way to the dead animal. The figure was a man that stood at about 6'0, wearing a brown tunic, a hood and a cloth mask covering his face. He carried a longbow and had a quiver of arrows on his back. His leather boots crunched the leaves beneath his feet as he knelt down to pick up the downed rabbit.

The man broke the Rabbit's neck to make sure it was dead, it was nothing personnel, but he had a family to feed and he didn't want the creature to suffer if his arrow hadn't fully killed it.

"And that makes 5" the man whispered in a gruff voice.

After retrieving his arrow from the rabbit, he slung it over his shoulder.

Walking into the woods the man kept walking as stealthily as he could before coming across his horse, a large black stallion with another 4 rabbits hanging limply from the saddle. The man hung this newest rabbit along the others and took off his mask and hood.

The man had very pale skin and long dark brown hair tied in a ponytail. His beard was bushy and thick, and his eyes were a piercing green. He looked like a man that was roughly in his mid-30's.

This was Alden Harrigan, former soldier of the king, Blacksmith, hunter, husband, and soon to be father.

Alden had to go out hunting at this late hour because his wife was becoming more and more demanding what with her pregnancy. It was no bother though, Alden loved the woods this time of night, and to be honest he fancied a bit of rabbit stew himself.

Men like Alden during this time in human history always kept themselves busy, and in doing so burned off calories like no one's business.

But once he was ready to saddle up, Alden swore he heard something.

Something he didn't think he was going to hear for a long time.

The crying of infants.

Alden listened close and he swore he could hear babies crying their lungs out. This far out in the woods, it was a bad sign, there were wolves, bears and lord knows what else in these woods. And Alden couldn't just sit back in good conscience while there were children in danger.

Alden slung his quiver over his shoulder, picked up his longbow and retrieved his longsword from his Horse's saddle.

Sprinting as fast as he could, Alden dashed throughout the woods, moving faster through the obstacles in front of him on foot than he could on horseback. As Alden ran the crying got louder and louder, and soon the Saxon found himself entering a clearing. Nocking an arrow into his bow, Alden slowed down and assessed the situation.

He didn't want to run headfirst into a pack of wolves by himself after all.

But what Alden saw made him stare in awe.

There, in the middle of the clearing was a smoking crater. And in the middle of the crater was the form of a person lying on their side, in a pool of their own blood.

Alden saw this and took everything in, the scorching of the crater was something he had never seen in his life. During this time period, people had no idea of what meteors were, nor of many things outside their little corners of the world. So, for a man like Alden…it was simply baffling.

The Saxon was brought out of his stupor when he heard the cries again. Coming from the centre of the crater near the figure. He could not make out the figure from where he stood, all he could tell is that whoever they were, they were covered in what looked like a black leather cloak.

But upon hearing the cries, Alden shook himself and descended into the crater.

Once Alden was close enough he carefully pulled back the cloak, but as soon as he began to move it he leapt backwards to avoid the blade that was swung wildly in his direction.

Alden fell flat on his ass, and scrambled to point his nocked arrow at his attacker. But when he gained his bearings he saw the person he had an arrow aimed at.

It was a woman.

A woman with silver hair, crimson red eyes and the palest white skin he had ever seen. She was wearing some very strange clothing, like embroided leather with metallic plates of beautiful designs. Her forearms and hands were encased in probably the most beautiful gauntlets Alden had ever seen.

These Gauntlets were plated in red and silver, with sharp claws on the finger tips. Along the metallic plates were these intricate runes that Alden didn't recognise.

The blade he had dodged was also nothing to be snuffed at. It was a singled edged sword with a long blade, the same runes on the gauntlets ran along the side of the blade. The runes on the blade, the odd hilt and the way it was put together, all in all it was a beautiful if not mind-boggling sword.

For all the beautiful items she had on her, she did not look like she was in a good condition. She was bleeding profusely from her mid-section, a cut above her right eye and one of her heels had been carved wide open.

Alden noticed that she kept the sword pointed at him, but made no move to attack him, her eyes were narrowed in a threatening manner and she was borderline growling at Alden like a tiger. If there was one thing Alden had to admit, was that she was the most threatening woman he had ever seen in his life.

That is when he noticed the two new-borns on the floor. Two crying newborns wrapped in bundles of cloth underneath the woman, whom had an arm around them protectively.

Alden was looking at a mother, defending her children.

"…I'm not going to hurt you…easy" Alden lowered his bow and arrow to the floor and held out his arms in a calm and friendly manner.

The woman looked at his posture and slowly lowered her sword.

Now with her arm lowered Alden could better see the wound on her mid-section, and he had to admit it was amazing that this woman was still alive, yet alone able to defend her children. The massive gash in her mid-section looked grisly and he swore he could see some of her interior organs poking out.

Alden knew from his years on the battlefield that a wound like this was not something you could survive. The pain and the initial wound hadn't killed her, but the blood loss certainly would.

The woman looked back and forth from her newborns to Alden and the Saxon could tell that she knew she wasn't long for this world. But the desperation in her red eyes told Alden that she didn't care about her life, she needed to keep her children safe.

Especially when she laid down her sword and picked up both children, handing them to Alden with a pleading look on her face.

"What are you…" Alden asked, before the woman cut him off with a gasped sentence of these strange words that he didn't recognise. It was only now that he realized that she didn't speak his tongue. She obviously saw the confusion on his face and took a deep breath before speaking slowly.

"Please…keep…safe" she pleaded, her strange accent hanging on her words.

Alden couldn't deny the look of desperation on her face, and he relented, taking both the wrapped bundles from her arms.

Close up, Alden could see the children.

The one on the right had the beginnings of pitch black hair and had the same red eyes as his mother.

The one on the left had the same bright silver hair as his mother, and shared his brother's red eyes.

Twin boys, barely a day or two old.

She reached out and placed a hand on the black-haired babe and whispered "Vik…tor"

She then placed the same hand on the other boy and whispered "Cy…rus"

Their names. She was trying to tell him their names.

"Viktor…Cyrus" Alden replied nodding to the children in respect to their names.

The woman smiled, her silver hair stuck to her face and blood running down her brow. She picked up her sword once again and sheathed it, before removing it from her belt and placing it on the left of Alden.

"Cy..rus" she whispered before taking off her gauntlets and placing them on his right "Vik…tor" she whispered weakly.

Alden got the gist of what she was trying to do. The sword and gauntlets belonged to her children now.

The woman smiled weakly before she leaned forward and nuzzled her newborn sons one last time, whispering a few words in her language lovingly at them. The crying of in the infants stopped instantly as they recognised their mother's voice.

Reaching behind her neck she took off what looked like a pair of necklaces, each with a silver pendant hanging on the end. Placing both necklaces on the babies she smiled at Alden, gratitude shining in her eyes.

The woman slowly laid a kiss against both of the boy's foreheads, tears running down her eyes as she did. She leaned back and smiled at Alden, tears running down her red eyes as she looked up into the sky and whispered a few more words in her strange tongue.

Looking back at Alden, the woman smiled as he eyes began to glow brightly.

Alden simply stared at the woman in awe as she closed her eyes and bright flames slowly engulfed her form. The fire didn't consume her like a man on the battlefield, no…the fire came from her, it poured from her wound, it emerged from behind her closed eyelids and slowly her skin began to darken and flake.

"Merciful god" Alden whispered in awe at the sight before him.

Her once pale white skin went to grey as she slowly burned away. And without a word, without a scream of pain or even a noticeable reaction of pain, she blew away into the wind, scattering like ashes into the midnight breeze.

The women knelt in front of him was now gone, the only evidence of her existence being the two quiet newborns in his arms and the gauntlets and sword at his sides.

All Alden could do in his dumbfounded state was look down at the two baby boys in his arms, both of whom were looking at him with wide eyes and probably the most innocent expressions one could pull.

But after a few seconds of looking down at them, both boys began to giggle and laugh at the expression on Alden's face. His expression softened immediately and he could feel these two boys practically worm their way into his heart.

These two were so helpless, so little and fragile. And while their red eyes were unsettling, they held something within them that Alden could not describe.

Alden wasn't a religious man by any stretch, years on godless battlefields had changed his position on that. But he could not see these two innocent bundles as anything but children that needed to be cared for.

Alden Harrigan, soon to be father of one…became a father of two, soon to be three.

He wasn't looking forward to explaining this to his wife.

 ***Roughly 1500 YEARS LATER**

 **Location: New York City, New York Historical Society.**

A lone man stood by himself in the hallway of the art gallery, with his arms behind his back he stood looking at a portrait hung on the wall. The man stood at 7 feet tall and wore a black tailored suit with a matching long black overcoat.

His long pitch-black hair was tied in a ponytail and on his face, he wore a pair of very expensive looking sunglasses. His skin was the palest shade of white imaginable, definitely not someone who tanned. His build was obvious even through the suit, his body was lean and most definitely toned with muscle.

A very imposing figure to be sure.

The painting he was observing was a portrait of what looked like a Tribal war chief with a smoking pipe in his hand. The colours were earthy and toned, and the linework itself wasn't bad, it could have used a better background, but that was besides the point.

"That's a portrait of Chief Cornplanter, he was a Seneca war chief. Fought on the side of the British in the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary war. The portrait was painted by Frederick Bartoli in 1796" a very attractive woman commented as she approached the man in black.

Turning to meet eyes with the woman, he found she was about 5 and half feet tall, blonde shoulder length hair and very professional clothing. Obviously, someone that worked here, and had spent some time studying the paintings.

"Gaiänt'wakê, actually" he replied with an English accent.

"Excuse me?" she asked.

"His Seneca name was Gaiänt'wakê. Cornplanter was just because non-seneca had trouble saying it"

"So, you are a history student?" she asked with a smirk.

"You could say that" he smiled back.

"I've noticed you browsing several pieces for the past hour, but I haven't seen you around here before" she replied.

"You found me out. Nah, I came to the city to enjoy some new scenery, meet up with some old friends, maybe a fresh start" he smiled back.

"Well, let me be the first to welcome you to the United States of America, Mr?"

"Harrigan, Viktor Harrigan" he held out his hand.

"Linda, Linda Smith" she shook his hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Linda" Viktor said as he took off his sunglasses, revealing his crimson red eyes. Linda seemed to step back in momentary shock at the odd colour of his eyes before realizing how rude it would have seemed.

"It's alright, I know they are a bit unsettling. It's why I wear the sunglasses" Viktor replied as he went to put them back on.

"No, no, it's fine. You can keep them off. I was being rude" she apologized.

As the two walked, conversing over the many art-pieces on display, they came across a certain piece that caught Viktor's attention. It caught his eyes for two reasons, 1, it was much, much older than any other piece in the collection, so old it needed to be kept in a glass case.

And 2, it was a painting that was very familiar to him.

Viktor seemed to stop completely in his tracks.

It was a portrait of a man sitting on the edge of a river, his right arm draped lazily over his right knee as his left leg dipped into the flowing river below. Behind the man was the trunk of a large oak tree and planted in the ground next to him was a Medieval English Longsword.

The man in the painting wore Segments of plate armour, silver steel adorning his body, a red cloak hanging around his shoulders and a helmet resting at his side as he gazed into the distance. One his face he wore a contemplative smile, his long black hair flowed in the wind and his eyes glowed red.

Viktor recognised this painting, as did he recognise the man in it. Afterall it was the man he saw every time he looked into a mirror.

"Are you alright?" the woman snapped him out of his trance.

"Yeah…just…wondering where you picked this piece up" Viktor replied, trying his best to act unaffected.

"Oh, this one was donated just last week. It was made quite a long time ago, our specialists say its over 900 years old, the oldest painting in our collection by far" Linda replied.

"Is that so? And the painter?" Viktor asked as he continued to gaze at the painting.

"Well, by analysing what remains of the writing we concluded that it was made by someone by the name of …it's funny, for this time period it's rather amazing in detail, yet apart from this piece there is no record of an artist named . One would think someone of this calibre would be world famous" Linda replied.

"Yeah…she should have been" Viktor replied as he gazed at the painting. Reaching up and stroking something beneath his collar.

"…She?" Linda asked.

"…Just a guess" Viktor said, laughing it off as simple assumption.

"You know…he looks a lot like you" Linda smiled.

"May have been a distant ancestor. Certainly, would explain my good looks" Viktor smiled back. Linda laughed at Viktor's bit of subtle flirting and quickly shook it off, going back to her professional attitude.

"Do you know the title?" she asked.

"No…what is it?" Viktor asked, he had never known it had a title.

"The Lonely Prince" she replied.

Viktor's eyes widened slightly as he looked back at the painting, those words struck him deep. He quickly put his sunglasses back on before straightening his posture. Looking at the portrait he thought back to that day.

The gentle gust of wind.

The sound of flowing water filling his ears.

The warmth of the sun on his face.

And the sound of her voice as she spoke to him.

He gazed at the painting, and reminisced, back to the woman that painted it so many years ago. Her skin as pale and white as snow, her hair as black as midnight, her eyes a gleaming amber and the smile he could see as vividly as the painting in front of him.

Almost absentmindedly Viktor reached up and held the necklace hanging around his neck.

* * *

 ***ROUGHLY 1500 YEARS AGO**

Two blades of gleaming steel clashed against one another, a hail of sparks flying as the two swords impacted upon each other. The two men, both wielding steel longswords held their swords in both hands, waiting for the other to make a move before lunging forward.

"Focus on your footwork boys, this is a lesson on skill and technique, not brute force!" called the voice of a third, shorter man standing nearby with his arms crossed.

Alden had aged quite well over the past 25 years, his brown hair only beginning to grey and his muscled physique not disappearing anytime soon after years of training.

Training he was currently passing onto his adopted sons. Yes, little Viktor and Cyrus had grown since the day Alden found them in the middle of the forest. Right now, he was right in the middle of a lesson on footwork, it was one of the many things he would teach his sons on a regular basis.

Viktor and Cyrus, were nigh identical in their looks, they had the same snow-white skin, the same red eyes, the same height, build, they truly were twins. The only noticeable differences between the two were their hair colours.

Viktor had pitch black hair, while Cyrus' hair was a gleaming silver.

The two had grown quite a bit in the 25 years since Alden had taken them in. Both were physically imposing young men, big built and standing at 7 feet tall each. Lean muscled physiques that looked like they were carved from solid marble.

Both Viktor and Cyrus were definitely different from most boys their age.

For one both of them had quite uncanny abilities that they were both displaying at the moment. Viktor's eyes glowed red as he controlled the flames of the forge, and Cyrus while just as strong as his brother, did have a more delicate touch.

The ability to control and resist the effects of heat was only one of the things that set the twins apart from regular humans.

Both the twins were unnaturally strong and very durable, even as children they flaunted these abilities, picking up objects that even their father at the height of his prime couldn't. Starting fires simply by concentrating or firing thermal energy beams from their hands.

Sometimes it even got to the point where the two could propel themselves off the ground by firing thermal energy from their feet.

Yes, neither Viktor or Cyrus were ordinary.

But nevertheless, Alden and his wife Dawn nurtured them, raised them and to the best of his abilities Alden taught them to control their powers. For the first few years it was difficult as their powers only began to manifest when they reached the double digits.

But like most things, the twins were fast learners and adapted well under pressure.

Cyrus was currently showing this as he bested his brother for what felt like the hundredth time, the silver haired twin's natural skill with a blade surpassing that of his brother.

This display of skill ended with Cyrus disarming Viktor, swiping Viktor's longsword from his grasp and following up with a leg sweep. Viktor fell flat on his back with a loud thud, Cyrus' longsword pointed at his chin and his twin displaying what could only be described as a shit eating grin.

"Do you yield brother?" Cyrus asked as their father laughed on the side lines.

Cyrus offered his twin brother a hand.

"Yes…Yes I do…" Viktor reached out for Cyrus' hand before roughly yanking his twin to the floor and wrestling him into a headlock.

"…As soon as you stop being such a prick" Viktor chuckled as he started rubbing his knuckles against his brother's scalp.

Alden laughed as he watched his adopted sons have their fun, ever since they could walk Viktor and Cyrus would spend their time fighting, wrestling, beating the daylights out of each other in the most playful ways. In a way the two acted like adolescent wolf pups, constantly baring their teeth at the other to hone their skills.

Alden saw no downsides, after all, no one could match his sons' strength and raw power. Who else could they train with if not each other. But then again it was best to stop them early, otherwise they could end up getting carried away, and end up burning the forest down.

Alden managed to pull his sons off of one another, dusting them off and giving them a few pointers of what they could have done better. He may not have been on their physical level, but he could certainly advise them on their technique.

Later on, in the day both the twins and Alden made their way home, bagging a couple of rabbits for dinner on their way back. Hunting was barely a challenge for the boys, Alden had taught them everything he knew about most things.

Hunting, fighting, blacksmithing, there wasn't much that Alden didn't tell Viktor and Cyrus. He knew he wouldn't be there for them forever, so he wanted them able to fend for themselves when he was gone.

Alden wasn't an idiot, and he wasn't a superstitious fool like many of the people in his village, he knew his adopted sons weren't human. The little differences between them and humans, their red eyes, their inhuman strength, their seemingly limitless stamina, their ability to control fire and heat, their inability to become sick, their skin that was stronger than Alden's best steel. Alden knew there were things about his sons he would never understand, and that his village was not were they would be spending their lives.

He didn't even know how long Viktor and Cyrus would live, maybe forever, he didn't know.

There were so many mysteries about his sons he would never find out. But that didn't matter, he loved them like his own flesh and blood.

Even now as he sat opposite his wife Dawn at the dinner table, their young daughter Brona sat nearby and both the twins piling their plates high with roast potatoes and assorted meats and cheeses.

"Do you two really need to eat that much?" Brona asked with a raised brow.

Brona was only a few weeks younger than the twins, being born shortly after Alden found them in the woods all those years ago. She stood around about 5'10, with long brown hair, sparkling green eyes and fair skin, all in all a natural beauty like her mother.

Dawn herself was close in age to her husband, reaching her 50's her once long black hair was beginning to grey and her age began to show in her face, just like Alden. Brona clearly got her bright green eyes from her father as Dawn's eyes were a bright blue.

"Uh…yeah? I'm hungry" Viktor replied, his mouth pretty much stuffed with roasted chicken.

Dawn snickered and shook her head, her adopted sons had naturally ravenous appetites, they could eat twice their weight in food some days. It probably had something to do with their metabolisms, the way they burned calories like no one's business.

"Viktor, don't talk with your mouth full" Dawn commented to which Cyrus snickered.

Viktor swallowed his food before throwing a scowl at his twin who grinned in response.

"So how have your days been?" Dawn asked before she picked up her cup and took a drink.

"Very good, Viktor and Cyrus have been learning quite fast, we managed to bring back quite the spread for tonight and I finally finished that special order for Lord Blackwood" Alden replied before taking a swig of ale from his tankard.

"The sword? You finally finished it?" Cyrus asked with a hint of excitement in his voice.

"I did, and may I say I think it's my best work yet" Alden said with a hint of pride in his work.

"Why didn't you tell us? We want to see this before you send it off to some fancy lord and it never gets used again" Viktor replied.

"Don't worry Viktor, you and Cyrus will see it soon. Afterall Lord Blackwood will be sending some of his men to retrieve it tomorrow around sun-up" Alden replied.

"It just doesn't feel right father, you put your heart and soul into that sword, it should be put to good use not strapped to the waist of a man who will never use it, or worse hung above a mantlepiece and never even be held" Cyrus replied.

Both the twins felt very strongly about their father's work, he was an expert at what he did. He was capable of crafting beautiful objects out of the rawest materials, his swords, daggers, axes and armour were the best for miles around.

In an area rich with untapped resources it was all but inevitable that Alden Harrigan would be the best blacksmith in the western midlands of Britannia.

"Your father makes those infernal things to provide for us. Personally, I would rather your father stay away from blades and armour for the rest of his life and take up something more peaceful like farming…" Dawn began to speak, but the smirk she got from her husband softened her voice.

"…But forging metal puts food on the table, and gives the three of you a chance of a better life, so I can't complain" Dawn smiled before taking Alden's hand into her own.

The family of five continued to eat in peace, every so often the occasional word of gossip being exchanged. Usually Viktor or Cyrus would begin an argument over which one of them performed in their training better and Brona laughed off her brothers' arguing.

Alden simply relaxed as he ate his dinner, drank his ale and enjoyed his family conversing. Dawn smiled alongside her husband, content about the situation they found themselves in. She was the daughter of a simple farmer when she met Alden, he was a young man, a battle-hardened warrior that won her heart with his courage and valour.

Now here they were, living life content with food on their table, gold in their coffers, a beautiful young daughter that would carry on their bloodline, and two unique, handsome and talented sons that they wouldn't trade the world for.

Once dinner was finished and night came, the family all said their goodnights to each other before heading to bed. Alden and Dawn sleeping In each other's arms, Brona sleeping by herself and the twins taking their own beds.

However, nearly an hour after Alden, Dawn and Brona retreated to bed, Viktor left his room as stealthily as he could and crept out of their house, out into the nearby hills. Carried by his powerful legs that made his sprint twice as fast as the fastest of modern men.

Within a few minutes Viktor was on a cliff edge, overlooking the nearby woodlands. The midlands were famous for the abundance of hills, and Viktor enjoyed overlooking this particular part of the land.

The moon shone brightly in a cloudless sky, stars sparkled across the dark blanket of night and the wind whistled quietly across the trees.

All in all, it was perfect night as Viktor sat down, one leg dangling off the edge of the cliff.

"Pretty chilly isn't it?" came a voice from the treeline.

"Yeah, but that's never bothered us" Viktor replied, looking back at his brother, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed.

"Nah. Though this will probably help warm up" Cyrus replied, holding a bottle in his hand and threw it to Viktor which he caught with masterful reflexes.

"…The hell is this?" Viktor asked as he examined the bottle.

"Just shut up and drink it" Cyrus laughed as he sat down besides his brother.

Viktor uncorked the bottle with his bare hands and took a swig of the bottle. The expression on Viktor's face told a story, the widening of his eyes and the instant regret as he did his best to swallow down the liquid he had taken into his mouth.

"AGH! What the hell did you put in this stuff?" Viktor asked as he handed the bottle back to his twin.

"All the good stuff" Cyrus replied before taking a swig himself.

"I don't know how the hell you can put that crap in your body" Viktor shook his head in disbelief.

"You'll get used to it" Cyrus handed the bottle back to Viktor.

"I fucking hope so" Viktor took a swig, his reaction toned down a bit as he knew what to expect.

Viktor shook his head with his eyes squeezed shut as his throat burned. This reaction would be expected from a modern youth taking their first swig of alcohol. But of course, with how hardy the twins were, it took something with a hell of a kick to get that reaction.

Cyrus did distil this particular liquor to fit his and his brother's tastes for stress relief. If one were to pour this concoction onto wood it would probably melt the surface, never mind what it would do to a regular human's insides.

"So…what has you up late tonight?" Cyrus asked after taking a swig.

"The usual you know? What we could be, why we are here…when we should leave" Viktor replied as he gazed out at the distance.

"When? Not an issue of if?" Cyrus asked.

"Cyrus…be honest. How long can we stay here, in this one place?" Viktor asked.

It was an obvious question, neither he or his brother were normal people by any stretch. They had questions rattling around in their young minds, where did they come from? Where they from somewhere across the seas, some undiscovered land? Were they from a land beyond the stars? Why could they do the things they do? And most of all, why were they there?

"Yeah, but I don't feel comfortable leaving our family here. Father may not look like it but he is on his last legs, you've seen him" Cyrus said before taking another swig.

"He gets slower every day, his breathing is getting more and more ragged, the fumes from the forge aren't helping. You know he isn't going to last for long" Cyrus continued.

"I know…but he wouldn't want us to live and die in one spot without knowing what we are" Viktor replied.

"When father passes, the only ones left to protect mother and Brona are us! This is a harsh and unforgiving world Vik, we have to keep them safe" Cyrus replied with passion in his voice.

"I know!" Viktor growled as he stood up and walked to a nearby tree, leaning his forearm against it.

"I fucking know…but not father, mother or Brona would want us living solely for their benefit. I know as well as you do that there has to be a reason for this!" Viktor growled before he raised a closed fist at a nearby boulder.

*FWWWWWWWWWIBOOOOM!*

A concentrated beam of red thermal energy shot forward from Viktor's fist and blew a nearby boulder to smithereens.

Viktor's fist emitted heat waves as well as a plume of smoke from the sudden discharge of energy. The amount of power both the twins could project was insane, for the heat to obliterate a solid boulder into tiny chunks was nothing to be sniffed at.

Especially when the most powerful handheld weapons of the time were longbows and arrows.

Cyrus stood up after a moment of silence and walked over to his brother, putting a hand on his shoulder. When Viktor looked up Cyrus could see he was visibly shaken, the questions running in his head, both their heads, were enough to overwhelm a person.

It was hard living life not knowing what you were.

Cyrus looked down at the crook of Viktor's neck, there hanging around his neck was the one thing he had of his origins.

The pendant their 'real mother' had left them.

Cyrus had an identical pendant hanging around his neck. Both the twins had a pendant hanging around their necks since they could remember, Alden had tried to explain the way he found them as much as he could, but he was still as clueless now as he was all those years ago.

"I would follow you anywhere brother…just…think about it ok?" Cyrus asked.

"I don't want to choose between family and what we need" Viktor replied.

"I want to know…what we are, where we came from, who our mother was, who we are" Viktor turned.

"And you think I don't?" Cyrus asked back.

"I want to know just as much as you brother, it's a void inside me and you…I can feel it every day we do something everyone else can't. I want to know…but we can't abandon our family, they raised and cared for us, and we can't just leave them whenever we want" Cyrus replied.

A moment of silence passed between the two of them as they locked eyes, both the twins could see the emotions and thoughts rolling behind the others eyes. Even though it seemed Viktor was the more emotional of the two, Cyrus was only better at masking them. He was in as much emotional turmoil as his twin brother, and Viktor could see past the smiles and the jokes.

They were bound by everything, blood, mind, fire, even their souls could speak to each other. Their bond as twins showed itself in these moments.

"It's too late at night to be arguing…especially about this" Viktor said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah, we should bring this up with father and mother…they should have at least some input on this. They should understand" Cyrus replied.

Viktor sighed deeply, meeting eyes with his brother "I know…I know brother" Viktor walked over to the unattended bottle to pick it up and take a long swig. This time Viktor's reaction was minimal, and after almost draining the bottle dry he left out a satisfied and fiery sigh, flames softly erupting from his mouth.

"You were right, you get used to this stuff" Viktor smiled at Cyrus.

"Told you"

"Cheers" Viktor smiled, throwing the bottle to Cyrus, whom smiled back and took a long swig of his own.

* * *

 ***PRESENT DAY, 1500 YEARS LATER**

"Hey, Vik…you ok?" a voice snapped Viktor out of his gaze. Perking up, the black-haired Brit remembered where he was, sat in a New York diner, opposite his only family in the world.

Cyrus.

Viktor and his brother were now dressed much more casually than he was at the gallery last night. Both of them wore black leather jackets, black jeans and steel studded rocker boots, Viktor wore a Motorhead shirt while Cyrus was wearing a Dragonforce shirt.

What could they say? They loved the same music.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine"

"You aren't reminiscing again, are you?" Cyrus asked.

Viktor narrowed his eyes at his brother in an annoyed fashion.

"I find it pretty much impossible to not reminisce on life considering how old we are" Viktor replied, leaning back.

"Don't make it sound like we're fucking ancient" Cyrus replied.

"Why are we here anyway? It's 7 in the fucking morning and we're having breakfast in a diner?" Viktor asked with a perturbed look.

"It's America, you've got to have breakfast in a diner" Cyrus replied quickly.

"No, you fucking don't. We could have had breakfast back home, instead you drag me out here before the fucking sun has even risen to have overpriced pancakes and pie…why do they even have pie this early in the morning?" Viktor asked.

"Ok, first off, watch your filthy fucking mouth, second I just wanted some quality family time to have a delicious breakfast with my dear brother whom I love…is that too much to ask?" Cyrus replied quickly.

Viktor's eyes narrowed as Cyrus took a long sip of coffee.

"You brought a girl back last night, didn't you?" Viktor broke the silence.

…

…

"…No" Cyrus replied nervously.

"You did you lying little twat" Viktor grinned widely.

"I'm horrified you think after all this time I would do something like that" Cyrus replied nervously yet again, signalling the waitress to bring some more coffee.

"You probably gave her the whole tour of the apartment, didn't you? Showed her the antiques, the fine china, the suit of samurai armour while you were at it, hell I wouldn't be surprised if in your half-arsed scheme to get into yet another complete stranger's pants you went ahead and showed her the Van Goughs" Viktor replied, a little anger behind his voice, but with enough enjoyment at watching his brother squirm to make it fun.

"It wasn't a girl" Cyrus replied.

"Oh, a guy? Two girls? Something in between perhaps?" Viktor replied.

"I uh…I wouldn't go near my room once we get back for another hour or two" Cyrus replied, scratching the back of his head.

Viktor's eyes widened as he took in what his brother had said "You've got to be fucking kidding me…you had…oh Christ" Viktor facepalmed.

"…Yeah…you shouldn't have asked"

"And you should have kept it in your fucking pants…we've barely been in this country a week and you are already dead set on sleeping with half the population" Viktor kept his face in his hand.

The waitress approached and began filling Cyrus' cup with fresh coffee "Are you two ready to order yet?" she asked with a smile.

"Yeah, can you possibly get me a new brother? One who preferably doesn't have the libido of a herd of buffalo in heat" Viktor asked with his face still resting in his hand.

The waitress raised her eyebrow and looked back and forth between the two, Cyrus giving her an awkward smile.

"Family trouble?" she asked.

"Yeah…he's going to be difficult for a while, bring him something full of sugar, he'll need it" Cyrus whispered to the waitress as she filled his mug.

The waitress nodded and left, leaving the twins to their little issues. Viktor removed the hand from his face and looked at Cyrus dead in the eye "I hope you realize you are the one cleaning up, because I'm not going to stay in an apartment that smells like…Last time it smelled like that for a week" he said with an expectant look.

"So, I take it your trip to the art gallery last night was productive" Cyrus replied with a knowing look.

"Trying to change the subject I see?" Viktor replied, Cyrus giving him an arched eyebrow as if asking 'really?'

"You could say that" Viktor replied.

"What did you find? A sign?"

"Yeah…they know we are here. They've been here for a while before us" Viktor replied.

"What makes you think that?" Cyrus asked.

"The painting…the one she drew of me…they donated it, to taunt us…to taunt me" Viktor replied.

"You really think it's them?" Cyrus asked.

"Who else would have access to that painting?" Viktor asked.

Cyrus took a moment to ponder their situation. Both he and Viktor had been together for a long time, their bond was older than most countries and, in that time, they had made many enemies.

The latest and oldest of which was the topic of their conversation.

"Those motherfuckers" Cyrus sighed as he leaned back.

Both the brothers had changed in terms of mood, before they were jovial and brotherly as they were all those centuries ago. But at the mere mention of their enemy, they hardened, the air around them changed.

"How long has it been since we've seen them?" Cyrus asked.

"At least 30 years, and they were in pretty bad shape after that" Viktor replied.

"What do you expect? We kill every one of them we see, it's what they deserve" Cyrus growled under his breath.

"I know…but to taunt us with that? They must be feeling confident enough to boast" Viktor replied before taking a sip of his coffee.

"They know we haven't stopped hunting them down. And they know we aren't going to stop until they are all dead, this might be their way of committing suicide" Cyrus replied with a hopeful look in his eye.

"No…not with him in charge" Viktor replied with a look of scorn.

Cyrus and Viktor shared a knowing look, their shared disdain for the leader of their enemies was clear. They had suffered much pain and suffering at the hands of the man they spoke about, it was impossible for them to not hate him.

Not after 1500 years had their hatred decreased, instead it only increased, with each passing year he roamed the planet alive.

"I think it's time we went on a little hunt" Cyrus said, locking eyes with his brother.

Both the twins understood what was going on behind the eyes of the other, they had rested for long enough, it was about time they got off their arses and got some pest control done.

Even as they paid for their breakfast they conversed and planned out how to approach things next. It had been decades since they last went on a hunt for their enemies, and even longer since they seemed to have a plan.

This was a new year, a new age, a new place, and they had hoped they wouldn't have to deal with an old enemy. But then again, they still hadn't gotten justice for what had happened all those centuries ago.

The memory still haunted their dreams.

The day he came to their home.

 ***FLASHBACK: ROUGHLY 1500 YEARS AGO**

Viktor and Cyrus hadn't gone to bed that night, after their little drink they tended to the horses in the stables, chopped firewood and went into the village to buy some supplies they were running low on.

The people in the village all knew Viktor and Cyrus, despite not being human they were surprisingly sociable. Then again no one but their family knew that Viktor and Cyrus weren't like other people, in the eyes of the villagers they were just two big lads who could hold their own in a fight.

All the men in the village, young and old respected them and never wanted to pick a fight lest they risk a broken jaw. All the young woman and older widows had their eyes on the young twins, Viktor's serious and stern outward posture and Cyrus' flirtatious nature being instant draws.

All in all, life was good for the twins, they had a good social life, the locals didn't ask too many questions about the odd colour of their eyes. An odd medical condition is what most people put it down as.

Not too many religious types around where they lived, so not many chances for a priest to scream that they were demons or something of the sort. Then again Viktor and Cyrus didn't know if that would be untrue or not.

Right now, Viktor was stood beside his adoptive sister Brona as she inspected some fruit on a market stall. Viktor didn't really need to stick by her side, everyone knew she was their sister, if anyone tried anything with Brona they would be signing their own death warrant.

"Are you sure this is fresh?" Brona asked as she stirred the milk around.

"As sure as the sky is blue" the farmer replied with a smile.

Viktor looked up to see a cloudy sky with not an inch of blue showing "Ok…so we should be worried?" he asked with a smirk. Brona nudged her brother as she continued to converse with the farmer.

Viktor smiled, his sister usually used him to help carry all the heavy produce and supplies they needed. Winter was approaching and they needed to stock up.

Just across the way, Cyrus was flirting with a few women whose husbands weren't anywhere to be seen. That was obviously a powder keg waiting to go off, but nothing Cyrus hadn't gone through before.

Little did Viktor know, that another power keg had already been lit, and the fuse was about to reach the barrel any second now.

*TWWWWWIP!*

Nearby a man fell face down, dead in the middle of the street. An arrow protruding from the back of his head.

Suddenly the entire village went into a frenzy, people scrambling in panic as the sound of horse galloping broke out. Without warning a stampede of horses ran into the town, trampling the first few unfortunates in the way.

The horses weren't wild however, all the horses had men mounted on their backs.

The men ridding these horses all wore black hooded cloaks and facemasks, wore blackened steel armour and wielded swords, axes and longbows.

"TAKE COVER!" a nearby man shouted, getting the women and children to safety as quickly as possible.

Brona's face whitened and she went into shock, she would have been standing completely still if not for the fact that her brother was already leading her to safety. "Brona! Get back home! Lock yourself and mother inside and tell father!" Viktor ordered his sister, she didn't seem to be getting the message as she gazed blankly at him, his words not sinking in.

"AAAGH!" one of the Black hooded men dismounted near Viktor and ran at both him and Brona with a longsword drawn and raised above his head.

Viktor quickly and swiftly twisted the sword from the man's hand and grabbed him by the throat, raising him a foot off the ground before squeezing.

*CRACK!*

The man's neck snapped like a twig beneath Viktor's hand before he dropped him to the floor.

"CYRUS!" Viktor shouted to his brother, looking over to where he was before. The women had scattered towards safety as Cyrus was in the midst of fighting two of the attackers.

Cyrus had already disarmed one man, slicing him in half at the waist with his own sword before engaging the other. Viktor threw the sword at the attacker, impaling him from behind before Cyrus viscously decapitated him.

Where there was once a head was now a stump, spraying blood profusely. Cyrus nodded to Viktor before running to engage the other attackers.

"B-Brother" Brona stuttered in fear at what was happening.

Viktor grabbed her by the shoulders and held her tenderly "Brona, Listen to me! You have to get back home! Run as fast as you can! Do not look back until you get there understand me?!" Viktor demanded as loudly and as articulately as he could.

Brona nodded with a frightened look on her face.

"Don't worry, they won't get past us" Viktor stroked her hair before sending her off. His brown-haired sister ran as fast as her legs could carry her towards their home.

Viktor drew a dagger from his belt and ran to Cyrus' aid.

The entire village was now consumed in utter chaos. The black hooded riders kept pouring in by the dozens, there were now at least 60 with more on their way. Every single one of these men was armed to the teeth, carrying Longswords, axes, spears and bows.

Every one of them wore a black hooded cloak with a bright white insignia on the arch of the hood. A skull with a third slit pupil eye on the forehead, with tentacles emerging from the two vacant eye sockets and mouth.

Buildings and homes began to burn as riders and men on foot threw torches, bodies began to litter the streets and citizens were brutally cut down by men on horseback.

Men of the village began to emerge from their homes with longswords and axes, running to the defence of their homes. Many of these men fought besides Alden in the past, so they knew their way arounds blades and warfare.

Many of them fought bravely, but many also lost their lives to the numbers, superior equipment and element of surprise the riders had on them.

Viktor ran up to one Rider, the horse rearing at the approaching enemy. Viktor steadied the spooked animal and lunged forward, grabbing the rider's leg, with barely any effort Viktor threw him off his mount and onto the ground.

Before the rider had time to react, Viktor had his hands around his throat.

*CRACK!*

Another neck snapped as Viktor crushed the rider's neck like it was nothing. Taking the now dead rider's sword Viktor grabbed the corpse and hurled it at another man on foot.

Cyrus ran into view and cut a rider down from his horse before pulling out a dagger and flinging it at another.

Viktor and Cyrus seemed to be holding their own against the coming horde of riders in black. But just as that thought crossed Viktor's mind, 5 new riders came into view, and they looked very different from all the others.

They all wore full helmets, complete with visors that covered every inch of their faces. Every one of their helmets and armour were adorned with curved goat horns and patterns that resembled muscles and tendons.

One wore black leather armour and wielded a longbow. This man was obviously the one who killed the first villager, as his arrows had black and red feathers.

One was covered head to toe in what looked like the armour of a Roman centurion, only their armour was patterned with muscle tendons and sinew, their helmet had a faceplate resembling a skull. At his side he wore a Gladius.

One wore full plate armour, his forearms engulfed in thick plated gauntlets that had thicker plating around the knuckles, his muscled physique could be seen clearly underneath his cloak. A pair of throwing axes hung at his sides and a double handed battle-axe was strapped to the side of his horse.

Another Rider's armour was much more streamlined and angular, at his sides hung a pair of whips.

And finally, there was the one that could only be the leader. His helm was adorned with a huge crest made from horns and other assorted bones. His armour was thick and had the same sinew-like patterns as the rest, his massive black cloak hung freely from the back of his huge black warhorse. And it was easy to tell he stood over 7 feet tall even when mounted.

The man gave off an aura of intimidation as he reared his massive beast of a horse.

"Find me the blacksmith…kill any that stand in your way" he ordered calmly.

The four men who could only be classed as the elite nodded before proceeding to do their duties.

The man with the longbow drew an arrow and quickly began shooting down any who resisted.

The man in centurion armour leapt from his horse and drew his gladius, with a flare of movement he sliced through any men that tried to get in his way.

The hulking man with the axes drew his battleaxe and rode down any that stood in his way. With a single swing he would cleave a man in half down the middle.

The final man leapt from his horse and drew his whips, with quickly lashed and loud snaps he would disarm any man that came close. If they were unlucky, he would lash out one of their eyes or even lash his whip around their neck, draw them in close, and snap their necks.

Viktor broke another attacker's neck and as he looked up, he saw the Axe-wielder riding toward him. His Two-handed battle-axe raised and ready to strike, Viktor grabbed the weapon before it made contact and flung the rider from his horse.

"GUGH!" the rider grunted as he landed with a clatter of steel against the floor.

Viktor now held the battle-axe in his hands, and upon closer inspection it wasn't a friendly looking weapon. The single head of the axe was serrated and upon the hilt was a glowing red gem that gave off a misty essence. The axe itself was patterned like the rider's armour, like hardened sinew.

Suddenly the axe flew out of Viktor's grasp and flew back into the rider's hand.

"You'll pay for that, you insolent little shit!" he growled with a very distinct accent. Viktor's father had heard that accent before, it was an accent belonging to the men from the far north, the men who sailed across the seas upon war boats to raid from neighbouring lands.

Vikings he called them.

Viktor simply flourished his sword and stepped forward, he never thought he would be fighting a Viking today. But right now, all this man was, was another enemy that needed to die.

The Norseman ran his hand over the serrated blade of his axe, and as he did it ignited with blue flames. The space in the visor where the man's eyes would be flashed blue for a split second.

When the axe was swung at Viktor, the Brit expected it to clash against his sword. Instead it sliced through the blade like butter, the stump of the blade attached to the hilt that Viktor still held was glowing hot.

Viktor threw the hilt on the floor and put all his effort into dodging the axe-swings. He had to try and find an opening of some kind, a moment of weakness in the Viking's attack.

All of a sudden Viktor felt a pressure around his throat.

*WWWWWWWICRACK!*

"GAAAGH!" Viktor yelled as he was yanked backward, onto his back. The warrior with the dual whips seemed to have gotten involved in the fray and was making Viktor his target.

"You can't keep all the fun to yourself Gunmar" the whip handling warrior replied, his accent foreign to Viktor's ears.

"This little rat is mine Khui, find your own" the now named, Gunmar growled angrily.

Viktor reached up and grabbed a hold of the whip around his neck and growled. With a harsh and powerful tug, he yanked Khui to the ground, and like that the whip loosened from his neck. Viktor quickly stood up and ran up to the downed Khui.

The whip wielding marauder was on all fours when Viktor kicked his mid-section, sending him flying into the side of a nearby building with a harsh thud.

Gunmar used this opportunity to close the distance and use the handle of his battle-axe to throttle Viktor. Much to Viktor's surprise, him and Gunmar were very close in height and the pressure behind his attempt was much more than any regular human.

"I'm going to skin you, and wear you like a coat you little fuck!" Gunmar growled into Viktor's ear.

Viktor grunted in pain as he grabbed the handle of the battle-axe and used all of his strength to push back. With a blur of black and red, Viktor flew backwards into a nearby tree.

*THUD!*

"GAGH!" Gunmar groaned as he was sent into the tree, back first with enough force to crush solid steel.

With Gunmar's grip loosened, Viktor turned and threw a left hook into the Viking's face.

*CLANG!*

Gunmar's horned helmet went flying and Viktor's eyes widened in terror. Viktor expected to see a bearded Viking, like the ones his father described, but what he saw was anything but human.

Instead of a human face, there was this hideous amalgamation of mandibles, tentacles and warped flesh and sinew. The mouth was like a Tarantula's, the right eye was human and blue, but the left one was twice as large, lidless and like that of a Squid's. instead of hair was a mess of squirming and writhing tentacles.

This wasn't human, not even close.

" _ **Scared boy?"**_ Gunmar chuckled with an inhuman vibration in his voice.

Viktor barely had time to register what he was looking at, as Gunmar swung his axe at Viktor yet again. This time the blue, flaming edge of the axe made contact, barely scraping across Viktor's cheek.

Viktor leapt backwards, reaching up and wiping his cheek he looked at his hand.

Blood.

The blade of the axe had managed to cut him.

This was the first time Viktor had ever seen his own blood.

"VIKTOR!" Cyrus yelled as he leapt forward in between Viktor and Gunmar. Grabbing the handle of the axe, Viktor was saved, Cyrus growled like a Tiger at Gunmar, hatred burning in his eyes. Literally, Cyrus' eyes began to erupt flames.

"Stay away from my brother you son of a bitch!" Cyrus roared, flamed erupted from his mouth in a beam of thermal energy.

Gunmar was sent flying backwards, a fiery hole burned in his armour.

"You alright?" Cyrus asked.

"Get Down!" Viktor grabbed his brother by the collar and yanked him out of the way of a fiery blue arrow.

The archer had taken interest in them, and was nocking another arrow. The warrior dressed in Centurion armour rushed the brothers, his gladius wreathed in blue flames. Both Cyrus and Viktor, now fighting side by side dodged and weaved through and past every attack the warrior made.

"Stay still you savages!" the Roman yelled.

"Alright then!" Cyrus threw a roundhouse kick, straight into the roman's head. The Roman was dazed by the sudden hit and stumbled right into Viktor's arms.

The black-haired twin wrapped his arms tight around the Roman's waist and flung him backwards in a devastating suplex. With a sickening thud and a pile of dirt being thrown into the air,

"How does the dirt taste?" Viktor said as he stood up and grabbed the Roman by his cloak.

With a flash of blue, Viktor got slashed across the chest, his tunic ripped and his chest bleeding. He stumbled back, gripping the wound with gritted teeth. Looking up to the right, Viktor saw the source of this attack.

The archer was stood at an elevated platform on one of the buildings, his arrow drawn and flaming blue.

*WHIIIIICRACK!*

"GAGH!" Cyrus found a whip snared around his throat, and with a violent tug he was yanked forward 10 feet onto his face.

Cyrus didn't have anytime to get back up as Gunmar had his knee at Cyrus' neck and kept the blade of his axe against the back of his neck.

"Don't fucking move!" Gunmar growled, his helmet returning his voice to a normal tone.

"Cyrus!" Viktor cried before the Centurian swung his sword, slicing open the back of Viktor's right knee.

"AAAAAGH!" Viktor yelled in pain as he fell to one knee. Before he knew it the Centurian had his gladius against his neck, threatening to slice open his throat. The archer leapt down from his perch and aimed an arrow square at Viktor's head.

"Don't move Britanian" the Centurian threatened.

Now that everything had went silent, both Viktor and Cyrus realized that the fighting had ended. Every one of the townspeople that hadn't been killed already was now on their knees, mostly women and children, many of the men were either wounded or dead.

The leader approached on the back of his large black warhorse. Each of its footfalls shaking the ground.

"Well…what have we here?" he asked in an intrigued tone.

"Just some scum that needs to die my lord. Please, let me kill them" Gunmar growled.

"Nonsense Gunmar…they managed to hold their own against you…my elite guard, and look at their eyes, they aren't like the rest of these pathetic creatures" the leader said before he dismounted his horse. One of the lower ranking warriors taking the reigns to keep it still.

"Who the hell are you?" Viktor asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh of course, how rude of me. I am Lord Fulgrim, right hand to Lord Blackwood and general of the Obsidian Order. The men you were playing with so entertainingly are my elite Guard" Fulgrim said as he approached.

The closer he got, the more Viktor and Cyrus realized, this man stood over 7-foot-tall, he was at least 8 feet if not taller. That paired with his black plated armour, way to advanced for this time-period, his long black cloak and the faint blue glow in the eyes of his helmet, made him seem like he was from another world.

A darker world than this one.

"Obsidian…what are you talking about? We don't understand!" Cyrus questioned.

"Of course, you don't young one. We have worked in the shadows since the dawn of this world, silently working until our time comes. I don't expect a young…whatever you are, to comprehend us or our existence" Fulgrim said as he walked over to Viktor and reached out to cup his face.

"Whatever you are…you aren't of this world, that is for sure. You have a strong potential, both of you. We could use two strong lads like you in our order" Fulgrim smiled as he studied Viktor's face.

"Go to hell" Viktor said before spitting in Fulgrim's visor.

Fulgrim stayed perfectly still for a moment before rearing back his gauntleted hand and viscously backhanding Viktor in the face.

*TWACK!*

Viktor certainly felt that. Fulgrim's strength was inhuman, stronger than any of the Elite guards they had fought today. Viktor tasted his own blood as his lip started to bleed, this man wasn't human either, he dreaded to think what was behind his helmet.

"I am being terribly patient with you little ones. But that is to be expected from brash youths that doesn't understand their place in the world yet. All that strength, all that power waiting to be realized, to be unleashed…and no purpose to follow" Fulgrim said as he looked back and forth between Viktor and Cyrus.

"Look at these men, the ones who bested you" Fulgrim said as he pointed to the four armoured men.

"Before I met them, they were like you. Purposeless, men granted great power and skill yet no way of using them. Gunmar here used to be a chieftain in the frozen lands across the seas, when his tribe began to die of an unknown disease, he saw his path to Valhalla close. His thunder god stopped answering his prayers, then I came to answer him" Fulgrim walked over to Gunmar.

"Now he has purpose, strength, and immortality so that he need not worry about the minutia of a petty afterlife" Fulgrim explained and Gunmar began to chuckle.

"Ahui, served in the dessert lands of the south, as a Medjay of Ramses the first. When his services were scoffed at and his skills were wasted, I came to him with an offer he could not refuse. To bring about an empire that would never fade, not dictated by a dying old man who thought he was a god" Fulgrim gestured to Ahui.

"Gaius was very much the same. A Centurion under Julius Ceasar himself, his tactical mind and fighting skills were wasted in the dying empire that was Rome. An empire built by lying politicians that only wanted to serve their own interests, an empire that fell with time. Now he is part of an order that will never fall, and will bring about a greater world than any that had existed before" Fulgrim gestured to the Centurion, now named Gaius.

"Xiao Yun served under the first Emperor of the Jin Dynasty. In a land far to the east he was the greatest archer that had ever lived. But like all empires, his was destined to fall, but I sought him out, and gave him the means to create a new empire" Fulgrim gestured to the archer, now identified as Xiao Yun.

"All of these men were destined to fall to a worthless cause, now they are the elite guard of the Obsidian order. Destined to bring about the age of the Void, where death, disease and famine no longer hold sway over our world. For the mere price of their worthless humanity, they have gained so much more…you could be apart of that empire" Fulgrim smiled behind his helmet.

"Then again, you would have very little to lose. Neither of you are human, nor will time ravage you like these pathetic creatures here" Fulgrim gestured to the gathered villagers, all terrified for their lives.

"What do you mean?" Cyrus demanded, Gunmar's axe still resting at his neck.

"You really don't know? About your nature? I can feel it right here, your lifeforces…are powerful beyond belief. Your lifespans are far beyond that of any other creature I've seen, the power the two of you carry is potentially limitless. Join me, and ill show you the full extent of what you are capable of" Fulgrim offered his hand out to Viktor.

Viktor looked to Cyrus, both the twins sharing a look of understanding between each other.

"Go fuck yourself!" Viktor spat at Fulgrim.

Fulgrim pulled back his hand and stood up straight. Reaching up, he took off his helmet, for a split-second Viktor and Cyrus both saw the face of something horrible, a slight shimmer of something inhuman, an abomination not from this world or any other where sanity ruled. But when that second passed there stood Fulgrim, a handsome looking man in his mid-50's. Slight greying at the sides of his auburn hair, blue eyes and a well-trimmed beard.

Both Viktor and Cyrus could tell, this was a trick, a poorly disguised trick to make him look human.

"Then death will come to you both" Fulgrim smiled as he drew his longsword.

"GAGH!" a nearby warrior gurgled as he fell to his knees. All eyes went straight to the warrior to see none other than Alden Harrigan standing behind him, the blade of a sword driven through the warrior's back.

"FULGRIM! Let go of my sons!" Alden growled in anger.

"Harrigan? Ah, yes I had almost forgotten why we were here, you have something that belongs to the order" Fulgrim smiled.

"LET MY SONS GO DAM YOU!" Alden tore the sword from the warrior's back and pointed it at Fulgrim.

The sword was the one he was commissioned to make for Lord Blackwood. And it was simply spectacular, the work of a master smith. It was a double-edged bastard sword, a design for a longsword that wouldn't exist for hundreds of years to come. Along its blade were runic designs, written in an ancient tongue that no one had spoken for eons.

Even when stained with the blood of the man dead at Alden's feet, it was still a breath-takingly beautiful sword.

"Ah…I see you've gone through the trouble of bringing it to me. I must say…Lord Blackwood was right to entrust such a task to you. Greatest Blacksmith alive indeed" Fulgrim smiled as he ran his hand across his longsword.

The blade flashed and in an instant was wreathed in blue ethereal flames. Without breaking eye contact with Alden, he held it to Viktor's neck and smiled.

"However, I didn't know you were capable of having Inhuman progeny" Fulgrim smiled.

"I made your sword…your armour…I made everything you asked, just let my sons go, leave my village in peace" Alden begged with desperation in his eyes.

"We made you rich Alden. All the swords used to kill your fellow villagers, every arrow fired, every piece of steel turned wet with blood today was made by you, and if you do not relinquish that sword to me…then this sword…will be wet with the blood of your sons" Fulgrim's smile dropped and his tone became deadly serious as he glared at Alden.

Alden stood there, his sword, his masterpieces held in both hands. He looked into the eyes of his sons, his Viktor, so strong and dependable, his Cyrus, witty and quick. He may not have shared blood with these two boys…but they were every bit his sons. He had raised them, played with them, comforted them when they cried at night.

He witnessed their first steps, listened to their first words of 'dadda', he had held them close to him whenever they were sad. He had taught them how to ride a horse, how to swing a blade, to fire a bow, he had taught them everything they knew.

They were his boys, and he loved them with everything he had.

Alden held out the sword, with tears welling up in his eyes.

"Please…just let them go" Alden's voice trembled.

Fulgrim gestured for Xiao Yun to retrieve the sword. The archer sheathed his arrow and shouldered his bow before walking over to Alden and retrieving the sword. When Xiao Yun handed the sword to Fulgrim, he smiled and sheathed his own Longsword.

Gripping the finely made hilt of the sword, he gazed along the side, at the ancient language inscribed along the sword. "Beautiful, a perfect instrument" he smiled before chuckling.

"Now let them go!" Alden shouted.

Fulgrim's eyes shifted to Alden once more and the hulking giant of a man walked towards Alden, his armoured sabatons clanking on the floor with each step. Compared to Fulgrim, Alden was like a child in height.

The way Fulgrim looked down at him would have been enough to make a lesser man falter, but Alden wouldn't back down until his sons were safe. But when Fulgrim grinned at Alden, he felt something crawl up his spine.

Fulgrim looked back at the warriors all gathered around the kneeling villagers, and gave a wave of his hand.

"NO!" Alden shouted as the warriors raised their weapons and executed the surviving villagers. Swords and axes fell upon innocent necks, wounded men, old men, defenceless women and children.

A village of over 200 people. Dead in an instant.

"You, heartless bastard!" Alden spat at Fulgrim. But soon he felt an armoured hand grasping him by the throat. With barely any effort on Fulgrim's part, Alden was raised two feet off the ground, bringing him face to face with the giant.

"A heart? Such a human concept. The ability to empathize for inferior creatures…what a worthless thing a heart is. In our new world, there will be no such thing as a heart" Fulgrim said with a voice bereft of emotion.

"Please…just…let them go" Alden gasped, his hands wrapped around the huge gauntleted hand of Fulgrim.

"Oh…I never intended on killing such fine specimens. They have a different future ahead of them, one serving underneath me in the new world" Fulgrim grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"We'll never serve you! Never!" Cyrus growled.

"Not today…and maybe not tomorrow…but one day, you will look back on this day and realize your foolishness" Fulgrim smiled back at Cyrus before driving the sword into the ground.

"The foolishness…of believing in a human heart" Fulgrim smiled before…

*CRACK!*

Alden's eyes went wide as Fulgrim rammed his hand into his chest. Alden's ribs cracked and broke, his sternum shattered and blood sprayed onto the floor.

"FATHER!" Viktor screamed, trying desperately to break free from the grip of Gaius and another three warriors.

"YOU BASTARD!" Cyrus screamed in anger at Fulgrim.

The dark overlord smiled as he felt around inside Alden's chest, the still breathing blacksmith still gaping in horror.

"Ah…there it is" Fulgrim smiled before ripping his hand free from Alden's chest, blood and gore spraying, veins tearing as Fulgrim began to laugh.

"Aahahaha, here we are…quite pathetic, isn't it?" Fulgrim asked, holding out Alden's bloody and still faintly beating heart.

"Thank you, Alden…but your services are no longer required" he smiled.

Alden took his last few breaths and looked over at Viktor and Cyrus, both of them crying intensely, tears streaming down their faces. Alden smiled and gave his last words in the form of a whisper he hoped they could hear.

"I love you…my sons" Alden smiled faintly.

"Pathetic" Fulgrim smirked before crushing Alden's heart in his hand.

…

…

…

" **AAAAAAAAAAGGGGH!"** Both Viktor and Cyrus cried out in unison, flamed erupted from their eyes and mouths in a torrent of pure rage and hatred. Gunmar and Ahui both felt Cyrus' strength increasing, getting to the point where they could barely hold him back.

Gaius and the other warriors felt Viktor standing beneath them, lifting them up as if they were nothing, their attempts to keep him restrained beginning to fail.

*CRACK!**CRACK!*

Gunmar put all of his strength into whacking Cyrus in the back of the head and Gaius put all of his into a pommel strike at the back of Viktor's head. Both twins dropped to the floor, unconscious and limp in the dirt.

Fulgrim walked over to both unconscious brothers, reclaiming the sword he came here for in the first place and resting it on his shoulder.

"What shall we do with them my lord?" Xiao Yun asked.

"Throw these guppies back in the pond…maybe one day they will be a worthy catch" Fulgrim said as he walked past the two unconscious twins.

"We have Lord Blackwood's sword, bring as many of the corpses as you can, we are running low on ingredients after all" Fulgrim said as he mounted his large warhorse.

The Elite Guard all mounted their horses, Gunmar taking a hateful glance at Viktor before he mounted up "I hope to see you again boy" he whispered under his breath as he kicked his horse into gear.

And as if they were never there to begin with, Lord Fulgrim, his Elite Guard and the raiders of the Obsidian Order were gone. All the bodies of their men taken with them, leaving a small village littered with bodies.

The ground was drenched in blood and gore, not a living soul except the two unconscious twins, lying mere feet away from their dead father.

 **TO BE CONTINUED!**

 **My god, I hope you guys liked this part 1 of this story's first two parter. And before you ask, next chapter will elaborate on Viktor and Cyrus' abilities, how they are in present day. And a better elaboration of what will be this series 1** **st** **major villain, the Obsidian Order.**

 **I hope you guys all enjoyed it, and as always PLEASE LEAVE A LENGTHY REVIEW! Let me know what you thought, don't hold back any questions and please ANY AND ALL CONSTRUCTIVE CRITISISM IS ENCOURAGED!**

 **I hope to see you guys a bit sooner next time, in our Next Chapter: The Immortals, Part 2**


	8. Remember Stan (Not a chapter)

Hi everyone, I know this isn't a chapter of the story, but I feel with the timing of my latest chapter and the recent events I have to write this.

A great man died today. A man who inspired people of all ages to dream, to aspire to be heroes, to become better. I wouldn't be the person I am today if not for the comics written and created by Stan Lee.

The characters and stories this man created had more of impact upon the way I viewed life than most people in my actual life.

I hope that everyone takes a moment out of their day to simply read this and remember a great man. A great man who created heroes we could aspire to be, not heroes that flew in the sky or shot webs from their hands or had laser vision. But people that did everything they could to make the lives of others better.

Even if that little thing would be something as simple as working at a place that provides public service, helping an elderly person cross the street, babysitting a relative's child, working at a local charity shop.

Even something as tiny as writing a silly fictional story that might just improve someone from across the world's day. A fictional story I intend to finish and carry on with, to honor the memory of a great man.

So please, to remember a great man. Don't write a blog post on twitter or facebook, don't cry, don't lose faith in the world.

Remember the man.

Remember what he would want us to do.

Try to be a hero in any way you can be.

Give a passing stranger a nice smile.

Tell a relative you love them and give them a hug.

Buy a round of drinks for your friends at the bar.

Anything that could improve the life of someone else.

I'm not going to end this by saying RIP or putting a simple date of birth – date of death.

I'll let Stan's words end this.

Another definition of a hero is someone who is concerned about other people's well-being, and will go out of his or her way to help them - even if there is no chance of a reward. That person who helps others simply because it should or must be done, and because it is the right thing to do, is indeed without a doubt, a real superhero.

STAN LEE, _Cyberspacers_

Excelsior, true believers.


	9. The Immortals, Part 2

**Avengers ANB 8**

 **The Immortals, Part 2**

 **Hi guys, as always be sure to check out aspiringactor's Marvel Reborn, if you want another take on a Marvel reboot story.**

 **Now without further ado, let's continue on.**

 ***ROUGHLY 1500 YEARS AGO**

" _V…Vik….Vikor….VIKTOR!"_ a faint voice echoed in his ears.

Slowly, the red eyes of the formerly unconscious twin opened. Bit by bit his cloudy vision cleared, and he began to faintly make out shapes. Blurry shapes that melted and dissolved into the visages of two women.

His adoptive mother, Dawn. And his adoptive sister, Brona. They were both soaking wet, long hair clung to their faces and blankets wrapped around their shoulders.

Shaking his head free of the nausea, Viktor looked around.

He was inside, sat down on a bed, many of his clothes gone, thrown away in the corner, little more than bloody rags. The sound of the rain pounding against the roof drowning out most other noise, candlelight was the only thing illuminating the interior of their home.

Viktor felt his wet hair cling to his face, a cool breeze against his skin, bandages tied tightly around his chest and leg.

Viktor tried to process everything that had happened, and it all flooded back like a Tsunami. The attack on the village, the blood, the screams, the sight of his father's killer holding his heart in his chest. Viktor's eyes shot wide open, a look of shock deeply imbedded in his expression as it dawned upon him the events that lead up to now. The rain covering the tears that began to run down his face in utter grief at the realization of what had happened.

"M...Mother, I…I tried…I…I…" Viktor began to stutter uncontrollably, fear, sadness, grief and every emotion he could fathom flooding into his mind all at once.

"Son, please, please calm down" Dawn cradled Viktor's face in her hands.

It was evident both Dawn and Brona had been crying profusely. The loss of Alden was obvious, but Viktor could tell there was no blame or resentment in their eyes. They didn't blame him for what happened, Dawn was obviously grateful for the survival of her adopted sons.

The doors swung open, and in walked in the form of Cyrus. A heavy hooded cloak draped over his shoulders as he carried a human shaped bundle in his arms.

"Clear the table!" Cyrus called over the pounding of the rain.

Brona and Dawn immediately cleared the table of all debris as Cyrus dropped the bundle down with a heavy thud.

Pulling his hood down and looking over to Viktor, Cyrus said with a saddened tone "Good to see you are still alive".

"Fuck you too" Viktor said as Cyrus walked over to him and embraced him tightly. Tears began to well up in the eyes of the twins, both heartbroken at the loss of their father, but relieved that neither of them had died.

If Viktor had died, Cyrus wouldn't have been able to take it. And the same applied to Viktor.

Dawn and Brona joined the embrace. Tears were had, tears of sadness over the loss of Alden, whose body lay wrapped on the table. Tears of joy at the fact that despite what had happened, Dawn, Brona and the Twins themselves had survived.

Even now, they had hope. Alden would be happy knowing his wife, daughter and sons still drew breath. Thanks to him, they had a future.

They just hoped it was a good one.

 ***PRESENT DAY**

 ***Location: New York City**

The Twins walked through the entrance to the apartment building. After eating and paying for their breakfast, which was quite substantial given their voracious appetites, they needed to change their clothing.

After all, heavy metal t-shirts and jeans were not fit for what they had planned for tonight.

The twins were ready for a hunt. And they needed their hunting gear.

But first they had to check in to their lodgings for the foreseeable future.

Walking up to the counter, Cyrus and Viktor were met with the young woman who had helped them check in a few days ago. She was young and pretty, a brunette with olive skin and beautiful green eyes. Basically, the kind of female specimen that Cyrus would have his eyes glued to for the duration of their stay in New York.

Viktor rolled his eyes and Cyrus leaned on the counter, flashing the girl a wide and friendly grin.

"Hello again Mr Harrigan, Mr Harrigan" she nodded at the brothers with a friendly smile.

"Good to see you Julia, just wanted to check if the moving was finished" Cyrus smiled.

"The last box was delivered just an hour ago, the men took it upstairs and it should be waiting for you to unpack Mr Harrigan" Julia smiled back.

"Oh, I can't thank you enough. You have no idea how hard it is leaving your home, coming to a strange new country, worried to death that things won't work out. But every so often someone like you comes along…" Cyrus' obvious flirting caused Viktor to cross his arms and give an eye roll so exaggerated that it was a surprise his eyes didn't do a 180.

Cyrus had gotten to the point of holding Julia's hand as he thanked her for her great service and understanding nature. The smile hadn't disappeared and Viktor could tell she was probably falling for it.

He couldn't blame her. Cyrus had a long time to perfect his craft of courting, and he was very dashing. He had a great personality, he had a great sense of humour, and he was very handsome.

He was every girl's fantasy of a prince charming…if that Prince saw every girl as a princess, and couldn't keep it in his pants. Much like their voracious appetites, both the twins had an increased libido, so in a way Cyrus had a reason for his behaviour.

"…So, I just want you to know, that if you ever need anything, anything at all, please don't hesitate to come see me, I will…" Cyrus continued until Julia held up a hand to stop him mid-sentence.

"Also, the Australian Mixed gender swimming team wanted to give you their regards for your 'hospitality' last night" Julia smirked.

Viktor's face morphed into the biggest shit eating grin ever as Cyrus' cool demeanour melted into nerves and embarrassment. The Black-Haired twin swore his brother went bright red in embarrassment, his sex life was not something he liked flaunting around like it was no one's business.

Especially when in the middle of flirting.

"Well…uh…you see the thing is…I was helping them with their technique, I am their…uh…physical…uh…trainer?" Cyrus stuttered trying to make an excuse to save his ass.

"I thought you and your brother were antique dealers" she said with a grin.

"Yeah, I thought so too Cy, what have you been keeping from me?" Viktor smirked.

Cyrus' embarrassment changed into an annoyed glare as he looked at his smirking twin. Julia was giggling under her breath, messing with a guy like Cyrus always brightened her day. The Harrigan twins weren't like the other big spenders in the building.

Unlike all the stuffy businessmen or high and mighty snobs, these two could take a joke, could smile, laugh and mess around with each other and other people. Usually employees would steer clear of the wealthy customers around, afraid of pissing them off and losing their business, the Harrigans however, spent big and were good to be around.

"It's alright Mr Harrigan, I won't mention it to anyone else" Julia winked, which put a smile on Cyrus' face.

"Come on Romeo" Viktor grabbed his brother by the scruff and dragged him off before he could make a bigger ass of himself.

Choosing to take the elevator instead of the stairs, Viktor and Cyrus found themselves isolated from everyone else for a few minutes. Laughing as they came in, the two brothers shook their heads, astounded that even after such long lives they could still find an enjoyable moment to laugh. It was the very fact that even after 1500 years, they were never alone.

They always had each other. If either of the twins were alone, it would be a downright certainly that they would have issues connecting to people.

"You should stop doing this. You'll only break her heart" Viktor said to Cyrus.

"Oh, come on, I'm just being friendly" Cyrus replied.

"You are asking for trouble. After this long you should know that we can't be boggled down by relationships normal people can have" Viktor replied, shaking his head.

"It's just a bit of flirting. Maybe something else down the line, but nothing long term" Cyrus replied defensively.

"Long term to her would be short term to us Cy. 90 years is a blink to us, it's no way for us to live and it's not a way for one of them to live"

"One of them? You make it sound so cold these days" Cyrus replied, folding his arms.

"After all the people we've lost…you really think we can keep doing this? That we can keep watching everyone turn to dust while we stay the same? That it's normal that we go through heartbreak and loss every time we get attached to someone?" Viktor's voice raised, making Cyrus raise an eyebrow.

"You've been thinking about her again haven't you?" Cyrus asked.

Viktor's eyes narrowed and he reached up and held the necklace hanging around his neck. The same necklace he had worn since his 'birth' holding the pendant that his birth mother left him. The pendant that had strange runic engravings in it was not alone on the necklace however. Right next to the pendant was a strange blue crystal with a faint amber shimmer.

"Don't dig deep Cy, I'm not in the mood" Viktor replied.

"You found her painting yesterday, it's only natural you should be thinking about her again" Cyrus continued.

"You think I ever stopped thinking about her!?" Viktor glared at Cyrus.

…

…

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that" Viktor sighed with his eyes closed. Cyrus smiled and put a hand on Viktor's shoulder.

"It's alright. I shouldn't have brought it up, tonight isn't about that…it's about us finishing some old scores" Cyrus smiled, he knew how hot his brother's temper could run pretty dam hot sometimes.

"Dam right" Viktor smiled back.

The doors to the elevator opened and both the twins stepped out. The hallway to their suite was a way away and the two were not finished with their conversation. The two of them had things on their mind they had to sort out, but as they walked, they were stopped.

"Oof!" someone made a sound as Viktor accidentally walked into them.

"Oh, sorry about that" Viktor apologized.

"Nah, nothing to worry about, I'm sturdy…Oh, you two are the new guys" the man replied. A man in his mid-30's with short brown hair, a bit of stubble and Hazel coloured eyes, short by the Twins' standards but very well built, like a swimmer. He was wearing a simple flannel shirt and jeans, he seemed pretty friendly with that huge friendly grin, and he gave off an instantly calming aura.

"Uh…yeah, I suppose we are, I'm Viktor, Viktor Harrigan" Viktor held out his hand, which the man quickly shook with a smile on his face.

"And I'm Cyrus, his brother" Cyrus shook the stranger's hand.

"Brothers? You sure you two aren't twins…apart from the hair you're identical" he chuckled.

"We are…but we don't bring it up, it's usually pretty obvious…and you are?" Viktor asked.

"Oh, sorry, where are my manners. Peter Parker" Peter smiled.

"Do you live on this floor?" Cyrus asked.

"Yeah, me and my girlfriend" Peter motioned to behind him.

Down the hall, a few doors away was an open door and standing in the doorway in deep conversation with an older woman with greying brown hair, was an absolute bombshell. A woman standing at 5'11 with long flowing blonde locks, beautiful blue eyes and a pretty lean yet still feminine physique.

"Hey Carol! Aunt May! These are the new guys! Our new neighbours!" Peter shouted out to Carol and Aunt May, who both looked over and smiled.

"Pleasure to meet you! I'm Carol" Carol called over with a bright smile of her own.

"Hi, I'm Viktor, this is Cyrus" the Twins walked over with Peter to introduce themselves.

The Twins were born and raised Brits, they were nothing without their manners after all, and first impressions were always important with new neighbours.

Carol reached out and shook both Viktor and Cyrus' hands, her eyes widening a bit when feeling their firm and strong grips. The Twins' also seemed to notice that both Peter and Carol had iron tight grips themselves, they either worked out a lot, which wouldn't be a surprise considering how they looked, or they weren't exactly normal people.

"Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm May, Peter's aunt" the older woman smiled, holding out her hand.

Viktor and Cyrus could practically feel the motherly love radiating off of this woman, her smile, her demeanour, the way she spoke. This woman should be on a greeting card or something, it was almost unreal how friendly this woman felt. Both the Twins were sure to be extra gentle when shaking her hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you May" both twins smiled.

"How long have you two been here?" May asked with a smile.

"We've only been here for a couple of days, taking in the sights and everything while the movers get our stuff sorted out" Cyrus replied.

The five stood in the hallway, conversing for a good 20 minutes, both the twins talking about how they had rented out the penthouse suite for the foreseeable future. They all laughed at the gobsmacked look on Peter's face at that revelation, May, Carol and Peter all assuming that the Twin's large bank accounts was due to rich parents or something of the like.

Oh, if only they knew.

Cyrus however noticed how Carol wouldn't stop staring at the two every time they spoke, wondering what it was Carol curious about, he thought it best to ask "Any reason you are staring Carol?"

"I'm just trying to place the Accent" Carol said, squinting her eyes in concentration.

"We are English…if that helps" Viktor replied.

"My best friend is English, and I know the accents. I just can't place yours. I'm getting a lot of west midlands, a little London…a smidge of Liverpool…where are you two from?" Carol asked.

There was a reason behind Viktor and Cyrus' accents. On the surface anyone could tell they were English, but they had to adapt the way they spoke over the centuries in order to fit in. The result of this was their odd way of speaking, they even had little inflections of their original old Saxon accent when they spoke. Bits of Black Country, bits of Liverpool, Bits of London, bits of little inflections they picked up from other places.

It was amazing that some people could understand them half the time.

"A lot of places, we've…been around a bit" Viktor replied.

"Born in the midlands, you can be sure" Cyrus smiled.

"How old are you two? You can't have been around that many places" Peter asked.

"Older than we look" Cyrus smiled.

"Well I can tell you two are going to be fun to have around" Carol chuckled.

"Maybe we can have you around for dinner sometime? Show you around the city? Our treat?" Peter asked.

"Oh, thank you but no, we've already taken up enough of your time. Besides we can get around the city just fine ourselves, we can adapt really well. But we would be honoured if you came around our place for dinner sometime, Cyrus is an excellent cook" Viktor smiled.

"That's great, we would love to. It gives me a chance to snoop around your digs" Peter smiled, getting a playful elbow from Carol.

"Well we hope to see you guys soon, but we've had a long day and we had better go get some winks" Cyrus smiled as he and Viktor began to walk away.

"It was a pleasure meeting you two" Aunt May smile and waved the two of them off.

* * *

The doors of the apartment opened and in stepped the twins. With a sigh, Viktor took off his jacket and threw it onto a nearby coat hanger.

The apartment the Twins had taken residence in was for lack of a better word, Opulent. A Penthouse suite about five to seven times the size of a regular apartment. After centuries the twins had stocked up quite the fortune between the two of them, their lives had been full of taking the most dangerous careers known to man and prospering thanks to their long lifespans and numerous abilities.

1500 years of careers as warriors, blacksmiths, soldiers, bounty hunters, bodyguards, they even owned their own mines and factories during the Industrial Revolution. It was no surprise that the twins had quite a bit stashed away, and that didn't even come close to scratching all the priceless artefacts and Knick knacks they had stumbled across in their time.

Their "apartment" was more like a single floored mansion, they had everything. A huge living room, two master bedrooms with separate bathrooms, an outdoor swimming pool and hot tub on the balcony. A Kitchen they had yet to stock up, and even a bar to store all the exotic and expensive alcohols they had acquired in their lives.

"Fancy a drink?" Cyrus said as he walked over to the bar.

"We barely finished Breakfast" Viktor sighed as he began stretching, hearing his joints pop and muscles warm up.

"I didn't say Liquor, did I? Viktor, you shameful alcoholic" Cyrus tutted as he picked up two coffee mugs from behind the counter.

Viktor smiled and shook his head as his brother finished brewing them some fresh coffee, true enough neither Viktor or Cyrus needed it, it took massive quantities of Liquor to even get the twins tipsy, and even that didn't last long with the rate they burned through it. And the Coffee didn't do much to wake them up, they were always alert, always ready.

They didn't know what it was like to be drowsy for long periods of time.

As the twins sat down to drink their coffee, they conversed about what their next move was. The Order had to be in New York, how else could Viktor's portrait wind up in that gallery when the last time they saw it, it was in their hands.

"We should get started when the sun starts to set. Those fuckers always worked best in the shadows. They don't want to risk the law stumbling on their shady rituals" Viktor said before taking a sip of coffee.

"Well I'm game for an early start if you are" Cyrus asked as he looked out onto the city.

"We should have some results by sundown…sure, let's get going" Viktor said as both he and his brother stood up and walked to one of the closed doors, a room that both had requested no one else in the building stumble into.

A room that held some of their most prized and valued possessions. Possessions that they deemed irreplaceable over their fifteen-century long existence. The door was specially made, and was only capable of being opened by the two keys held by the twins.

It cost them a pretty penny having it built and paying extra for no questions asked.

When the big heavy door opened, it opened into a dark, pitch black room. But Cyrus raised a hand and with a click of his fingers the room lit up, hundreds of tiny candles burst into life as the Pyrokinetic smiled.

The sight of a room would make the most exotic and rare collections of history in the world jealous.

The floor was decorated with an ornate red carpet that stretched down a short hallway, lining the walls were weapons, portraits and pictures from ages past. Longswords, both Arthurian and Saxon, Katanas, axes, ornate daggers, flintlock guns, ornate revolvers, helmets and segments of old worn armour of European and Japanese origin, robes and banners of long dead armies, black and white pictures from WW1 and WW2, portraits of themselves from different time periods and countries.

But at the end of that hall was what they needed.

Two very ornate and well-built chests, built from oak with silver and gold hinges forged to look like flames, dancing up the edges of the containers. On each of the chests was a crest, a very ornate V on the right chest or a very ornate C on the left one.

Both the twins knelt down by their respective chests and opened them.

 ***1500 YEARS AGO**

The floorboard opened with a creak of wood as Viktor pulled the boards and revealed the empty space beneath them. Arching his eyebrow at this, Viktor looked back at his mother who sat nearby on a wooden chair. Brona stood nearby Dawn with her arms wrapped around her, giving her mother comfort even now. Cyrus stood near his brother, both curious as to what their mother was leading them to.

"What is this?" the silver haired twin asked.

"Something your father wanted to give you today…he thought you were ready" Dawn said with misty eyes. Her husband had spoken to her the night before the incident, he thought it was about ready the boys received their birth right.

Viktor reached into the space and pulled out a long bundle wrapped in cloth. Laying the bundle on the floor, both Viktor and Cyrus knelt down and unwrapped it, the sight in front of them made their eyes widen unnaturally.

In front of them lay the two most beautiful objects they had ever laid their eyes on.

A pair of plated, clawed tipped gauntlets. The armour plating was a beautiful shade of crimson, accented by silver patterns that resembled flames. The knuckle segments of these gauntlets were particularly well made, as if they doubled as knuckle dusters. On the armour plating were runic patterns much like the ones on their pendants.

All in all, the Gauntlets were the things one would expect a god to wear.

The other object was a sword. A sword unlike any other any of those present had seen before. It was sheathed in a very ornate metallic scabbard. The scabbard was decorated with the same runic patterns and depicted what looked like a Multi-horned dragon dancing up towards the hilt, near the hilt was a carving resembling a warrior facing the dragon with the sword itself.

The hilt had a small and circular cross-guard, the same runic engravings dancing across the hilt, the cross-guard resembling the struggle between the warrior and his draconic adversary.

Immediately Viktor's hands came to the Gauntlets.

And immediately Cyrus grabbed the Sword.

It felt like the two of them were magnetized to their respective objects. It felt almost like they called to the twins, like they had been missing a limb for their entire lives and they were finally reunited. The gauntlets when in Viktor hands felt like they were supposed to be connected, they felt natural, and the sword swung to Cyrus, as if begging him to unsheathe it and let it sing in its glory.

"What…are these?" Viktor asked in awe as he studied the gauntlets closely.

"Your father said they belonged to her…your birth mother, and she left them to you when she passed" Dawn explained, her voice trembling.

"He…he never talked about her…and we never asked" Cyrus murmured with a guilty tone.

"He only met her at the end. He said she spoke a strange tongue, wore strange clothing, and carried that sword and those gauntlets. You won't believe how much Alden learned about his craft studying those" Dawn smiled faintly.

Viktor and Cyrus both stopped their study of these objects and turned to Dawn. Switching from a knelt position to a sitting one. They never liked talking about their birth mother to their adoptive parents, it made them feel disconnected, as if Dawn and Alden weren't their parents, as if they were nothing but some strangers that let them live under their roof.

But questions like this lingered ever in their minds.

"We…we never asked about her…even Al…father wouldn't say much" Viktor said, stopping himself short of calling Alden by his first name instead of father like he always did.

"He always told me she died with a smile on her face...knowing that you two were safe. I…I never liked to think about her…she always made me feel inadequate, like she would have been a better mother to you two than I ever could be" Dawn said as the first tear fell down her face.

"Don't say that" Cyrus grabbed Dawn's hand.

"We could never ask for a better mother" Viktor smiled.

Dawn smiled fondly at the two amazing boys she was blessed to call her sons, wiping away her tears and giving both them and Brona a hug. She was glad that even with the loss of Alden, that her offspring and her two adopted bundles of joy had survived. And she knew deep down in her heart that Alden would share her sentiment.

"Now come on…let's see that sword, and please put those things on…I want to see how you two look" Dawn smiled.

Viktor put on the Gauntlets, they seemed like they were a bit loose for a while, like the gauntlets were a few sizes too large, but once a few seconds passed the gauntlets tightened with a metallic clank. Now they fit perfectly, like a secondary armoured skin around his forearms, the gauntlets were not restrictive in anyway, they gave him the same dexterity and movement in his hands as he normally did, but now they were encased in this strange red steel.

Cyrus unsheathed the sword, with a glimmer of silver and a ring of metal the blade was revealed. A single sided edge, razor sharp, so sharp he could feel it slicing through the air particles around him. All along the side of the blade were the same strange engravings that decorated the scabbard and Viktor's gauntlets.

Both the Twins had been around metal their entire lives, they had seen their father work with Iron, Steel, Copper, Brass, Gold and Silver, but never had they seen or felt metal like this before. It felt light, yet strong, insanely strong. Even the strongest steel their father forged would bend or break under their strength, but the metal these gauntlets and this sword were made of, it was beyond belief.

"Your father knew you two were ready, ready to make your own path. He knew you wouldn't be chained to this life forever" Dawn smiled.

"But…we have to look after you two. We can't just leave you here after what happened" Cyrus said as he sheathed the sword.

"Your father had a brother who lived down south, he owns his own farm…Brona and I will stay with him until we can get back on our feet" Dawn said.

"You…you really want us to go our own way?" Viktor asked.

"Of course. Ever since I held you two in my arms, I knew you would grow beyond the nest. This place was never meant to be your home forever. There is a large world out there, unexplored, untapped, undiscovered, and unlike so many you two have the ability to see it…to find your place in it" Dawn held out her hands and cupped the faces of the two boys she was honoured to call her sons.

Viktor and Cyrus wouldn't admit it hundreds of year later, but they shed numerous tears that day. Tears that would only fuel the hunt they were already formulating in their heads. The faces, names and sights of those that had wronged them forever seared into their minds.

The Obsidian Order

The Elite Guard

Lord Blackwood

And Fulgrim

The Twins knew what their purpose was.

To avenge their father, the people of their village and whatever others had fallen to the Order. The Twins knew that as long as they drew breath, they would not stop until every member of the Order lay dead, rotting in a ditch, or were scattered to the winds as ashes after the fires of retribution had finished with them.

 ***PRESENT DAY.**

The night air was cold, and the city lights sparkled like fireflies in the dark. The city had a certain beauty to it from high up, the skyline of New York sparkling like it was alive. The sheer size and beauty of the city only matched by the masses of lives that went forward within it.

Then again, not every life that took place within the city was going as it should have been.

Around the darker backstreets in the warehouse district, a lone man was running for his life.

A man around 6'7, running as fast as he could. Pale skin, a bald head, brown goatee, wearing blue jeans, a heavy metal t-shirt and a leather jacket. On the back of the jacket was the brand of a Biker gang, but as tough as this individual was, he was well aware that he was being hunted.

As he ran through the back streets, he constantly looked over his shoulder, trying to spot the two figures chasing him down like a dog.

But as he turned his head back to look in front of him, he felt his heart stop.

There stood in front of him was one of the two men he feared. Standing at 7 feet tall with long black hair and glowing red eyes like the fires of hell.

Before he knew it, he found a metallic hand wrap around his throat and lift him off the floor. With a loud and heavy thud, he was thrust into a nearby wall.

"Why in such a hurry?" growled his attacker.

"Fuck you!" he growled back at the man with glowing red eyes.

"Oooh, language. You kiss your mother with that mouth?" Viktor smirked as he leaned in, his glowing red eyes illuminating the man's face.

Viktor's clothing had changed dramatically since this morning. He now wore his red and silver clawed gauntlets, a long heavy leather coat of mahogany with the design of a four horned, western dragon embroiled on the back. In place of boots he wore red and silver sabatons that covered his shins, his lower face covered by a grilled metallic visor like that of a knight. Beneath his coat he wore a zipped-up vest with metallic plates, much like a Brigandine armour vest.

The final addition to his costume was an armoured pauldron attached to his left shoulder with a sigil of a fist clutching a flame.

Needless to say, Viktor did his best to look like a fiery modern-day knight.

"You should tell what he wants to hear. My brother gets awfully touchy when he is in a bad mood" Cyrus said as he emerged from the shadows, his eyes glowing an eerie red like Viktor's.

Cyrus' outfit was very much identical to Viktor apart from a few distinct differences. For one his long leather coat was black instead of mahogany and on the back of his was a design of an eastern style dragon embroiled on the back. Instead of gauntlets he wore black gloves that covered his forearms, his hands, yet left his thumbs, index and ring fingers exposed.

Sheathed at his right side was his sword, only now handing from the sheath were necklaces and pendants, trophies of fallen enemies past.

He also wore an armoured pauldron, this one however had a sigil of a four horned dragon skull with a sword drove into it.

Both the brother's outfits were designed for functionality and intimidation. And needless to say, two 7-foot-tall giants of muscle with glowing red eyes, dressed like the messengers of death, were pretty intimidating.

"I don't know what you want from me" the man whimpered pathetically.

Viktor narrowed his eyes and let out a Tiger-like growl before replying "Cut the bullshit! You know exactly who we are, and what we want from you"

Viktor reached forward with his other hand and uncovering the man's neck, showing clear as day the tattoo on his neck. A tattoo of a skull with a third eye, with tentacles emerging from its vacant eyes and mouth.

"Funny, you branded yourself with the mark of the order like it was a badge…that you thought no one would notice…not your lucky day is it?" Viktor growled as he raised the man up higher.

"…Even if I did know what you were talking ab…"

"DON'T YOU FUCKING LIE TO ME!" Viktor slammed his fist into the wall next to him, the stone wall yielding under his punch. Bricks and fragments of stone falling to the ground as Viktor's eyes went even more fiery than they usually were.

Cyrus snickered when he noticed the dark spot on the man's jeans appear. He loved watching his brother work sometimes.

"I…I…they'll kill me if I talk" he whimpered.

"I'll do things that will make you wish for death if you don't" Viktor held up a clawed hand and set it alight with flames.

"OK! Ok, ok, ok I'll tell you everything…just please don't tell them I told you" the man pleaded as tears began to run down his face.

"Why not? They're all dead anyway, and so will you be if I ever see you in this city again…now…" Viktor leaned forward.

With a fiery glare, a small burst of cinders from the grill of his visor and a deep guttural growl that gave his voice a demonic tone, Viktor simply said one word.

" _ **Talk"**_

 ***20 minutes later.**

Both the twins found themselves a way away, standing on a rooftop, Viktor with his arms crossed and Cyrus squatted down with his arms resting on his hunches. They looked down collectively down at a nearby warehouse, a run-down old shithole as Viktor would put it.

Dark, dingy, isolated, a place no respectable human being would want to be seen in.

"So…that's where they are?" Cyrus asked.

"They had better be, or I'll skin that Git with my bare hands" Viktor replied.

"Ha, I'd pay for front seats if that's the case" Cyrus grinned behind his visor.

"How many do you think?" Viktor asked.

"It's a big space…but it doesn't matter, they're dead anyway" Cyrus said as he gripped the hilt of his sword.

"Goddam right" Viktor growled as he and Cyrus leaped from their perch towards the warehouse.

* * *

To say that the inside of the warehouse was dark would have been an understatement. The only thing illuminating the interior was the faint glow of the candles littered around the place and held in the hands of the many hooded and cloaked figures gathered.

A gathering was taking place.

A gathering of the Obsidian order.

There were at least 50 to a hundred cultists gathered, all wearing black hooded robes, on the back of each cloak was the sigil of the order, the three eyed skull.

Standing in the centre of the crowd where 3 figures. All three of these were obviously higher-ranking individuals of the Order, they all wore black hooded cloaks, only two of them had a pure white trimming, resembling bone. The man who was obviously the leader was wearing a chest piece, crafted from bone to resemble Tentacles encircling his shoulders.

The way this man held out his hands and stood above all the others as they knelt before him told of what was happening. In his right hand he held a ceremonial dagger, crafted to resemble a cluster of tentacles curling into a point.

On the floor was a large crest, written in an ancient and long dead language, 5 smaller crests written in chalk. Every crest resembled a symbol of the beliefs of the order, symbols that were very well defined that looked like something from an intense horror movie.

"Hear me! My brothers and sisters, for the day of reckoning comes soon. Our masters have told me of what comes, that the day we have long awaited is approaching!" the leader preached to the kneeling cultists.

"For Eons, our order has waited for this day, for the time when the eclipse brings about the time of the rupture, where the barriers protecting this mortal and imperfect world are broken, and the age of the Void comes!" he continued, his voice echoing through the warehouse, every word he said sinking deep into the minds of those around him.

"We give our praise to the old ones, those that lurk, those who hide from the light, those who promise us a time without death, without weakness, a time where those in power will cower beneath the feet of the faithful! We offer to you, our lives, our minds, and our souls, in order to slake your thirst, we offer you our blood…so that a piece of you shall enter this world!" the leader said as he held the ceremonial blade to his hand.

One of the two higher ranked cultists held up a bronze chalice as the leader slit a sizeable cut into his hand. Crimson red blood oozed from the wound and into the chalice, filling it half way before he began to move his hand around the circle, blood spilling onto the symbols and glyphs, soaking them in crimson.

"We give our praise to you…oh great old lords of the void!" the leader said as he began to draw new circles with his still flowing blood.

All the gathered cultists began rocking back and forth on their knees, small murmurs turning to loud chants. Chants in an ancient tongue none of them knew the true meaning of, their voices becoming one as the chants rang through the dark warehouse.

The other two higher ranking followers walked through the rows, taking blood from the others and adding it to the chalice before they returned to their leader, a full chalice of blood waiting for him as they knelt in reverence.

Standing near the back of the warehouse were two figures, two men not wearing robes like the rest of those present. Instead these two men wore business suits, the only mark on them signifying them anything other than regular people were the necklaces they wore, silver chains holding the sigil of the order.

The three eyed skull.

The first of the two men had a thick and bushy red beard, the sides of his head shaved revealing very Nordic tattoos.

The other had short black hair, light skin, but very pronounced roman features.

The two simply watched with their arms crossed as they watched the dark spectacle take place.

The dark chants echoed, gaining more power with time as the leader took the chalice from his followers, raising it high above his head.

"GREAT OLD ONES! LET ME BE YOUR VESSEL! USE MY FLESH, FOR IT IS YOURS!" he proclaimed to the sky before he placed the chalice to his lips and began gulping down the combined blood of himself and his followers.

The two men at the outskirts faintly smiled as they held their necklaces.

After drinking down the entire chalice of blood, the leader dropped it to the floor, the goblet clanging against the stone floor as he did. The chanting grew louder and louder as the leader began furiously ripping off his robes, the sigils and glyphs on the floor beginning to glow like the candles scattered around the room.

"GAAAAAAAAAGH!" The leader let out a shrill cry of pain as a loud cracking sound pierced the air. Once he tore his robes away, he revealed tanned skin and a relatively toned physique, short brown hair and green eyes.

His skin began to crawl and morph, as if something were moving beneath it. His hair began to flake and fall away and his muscles began to contract, his teeth were pushed out from his mouth and his eyes began to bulge. With a hideous squelching of flesh and blood, the skin of his chest was torn wide open, awful slithering appendages bursting forward and squelching upon the floor.

His fingers cracked and bent unnaturally as his skin was ripped open like dry paper, as the form of the man was ripped and morphed into something grotesque, hurled forward from the darkest dreams of human imagination.

The man who was leading this hellish sermon was torn to pieces, giving birth in the worst possible way to an abomination that didn't belong in this world.

The leader's skin was thrown to the floor like the skin of a freshly peeled orange and there standing where he once stood was a horrendous creature o the void.

A hideous amalgamation of muscle, bone and tentacles, standing like a silverback gorilla, its forearms were encased in thick bone. Its hands were 3 fingered and clawed, the same for its short and stocky back legs. It's head like the skull of a dinosaur, snouted and full of razor-sharp teeth, its head littered with eyes, two large ram-like horns curling around its mass of hair…or rather, the tentacles that sprouted from the back of its head, writhing and dripping with slime.

The creature let out a long and hideous roar, saliva dripping from its lipless maw as it scanned all the surrounding cultists who knelt in reverence to the creature. The two men from earlier smiled and walked up to the creature, slowly their suits and human faces dissolved into different forms.

Two armoured forms, one resembling a Roman centurion and the other a Viking War chief.

Gunmar and Gaius, the two Elite guard in service to Fulgrim. Their armour was still the same sinew design they had all those centuries ago, and like then they had their weapons, Gaius had his Gladius at his hip and Gunmar had his battle axe on his back.

"A perfect start" Gunmar smiled as he reached out to pat the creature on its head.

*CRASH!*

Glass shattered above the heads of the gathered cultists, and falling besides hundreds of shards of glass came the two hulking figures of Viktor and Cyrus. Metal clad sabatons clacked upon the stone floor with a loud thud.

Slowly the two stood to their full height, towering above every one of the cowering Cultists, every one of them recognising the boogeymen of their religion. The two men that had stalked and hunted for them for centuries over every continent on the planet.

The Harrigan Twins.

The silence that hung in the air was tense as Viktor and Cyrus made eye contact with Gaius and Gunmar. The glares given back and forth between the four were filled with hatred, brows furrowed, glowing red eyes met with eerie ethereal blue.

"Evening" Cyrus growled.

Gunmar thrust his hand towards them both, pointing a single armoured finger at the brothers and with as much anger and as he could "KILL THEM!" he roared at the top of his lungs.

Without a second's hesitation, every cultist present drew a dagger from their cloaks and lunged at the two brothers.

Viktor raised a brow and held out his right hand, a jet of white-hot flame burst forward from his hand and scorched every cultist that made a move towards them. Within a second at least 30 bloodthirsty cultists were turned to ash and bones.

Cyrus growled as his hand went straight for his sword, with a flash of silver and red, another 30 cultists were sliced to ribbons. The speed, power and ferocity of the attack cutting them down like they were naught but crass.

The other cultists quickly realized they stood no chance against the twins after that little display and began to turn tail and run. Gaius held out a single hand which began to glow bright blue, within seconds all of the cultists dropped to their knees and began screaming out in pain.

"Oh no you don't!" Cyrus dashed towards the Roman with his sword drawn.

*CLANG!*

Cyrus' blade made contact with Gunmar's axe, the fiery blue edge of the Viking's battleaxe not even making a dent in the blade of Cyrus' sword. Gunmar knew that the sword and gauntlets that the twins possessed were stronger than any metals of this world, and so his enchanted blade could hardly slice through them like any other steel.

"You'll miss the best part!" Gunmar smirked as the other cultists began to twist and contort in all manner of unearthly shapes.

Robes where torn open as the cultists began to draw towards one another, only then could Viktor and Cyrus see that the brands of the order on every Cultists' skin were glowing bright blue.

"Oh fuck this!" Viktor growled, raising his hand once again, ready to fire another jet of flame at the writhing Cultists. But before he had the chance to let loose, a hideous snarl cut through the air.

The creature that used to be the cultist leader leapt at Viktor, snarling and drooling as it swiped at the black-haired twin. Viktor quickly lowered his hand and began ducking and weaving beneath and below it's swings. The ends of its claws looked narly and not at all fun to get hit with, but with an angry snarl Viktor caught one of its arms in his hand.

The creature looked confused as it tilted its head at Viktor, its tentacle like hair flopping as it did. Viktor only let out a single tiger like growl before he pulled it in close and delivered a powerful headbutt.

*THUD!*

The creature staggered back and before it had a chance to recover, Viktor let loose with a devastating haymaker, his armoured fist creating a shockwave as the creature was sent hurdling to the floor. It barely made itself stop as it dug its claws in the ground, sparks flying as its claws screeched upon the floor.

"You think I'm afraid of you?" Viktor said as he began walking towards the creature, fists clenched at his sides.

The monster roared, baring its rows of teeth before Viktor's right hand went straight into its mouth. With a sickening crack and a slimy tearing of flesh, Viktor tore the creature's long tongue right out of its mouth, purple, lumpy blood spilling from its gob before Viktor grabbed the top part of its head and slammed it into the ground.

Stone gave way to flesh as a small crater formed around the creature's head before Viktor leaned into it.

"You have no idea how many of your kind I've killed with my bare hands!" Viktor snarled before he brought up his metal clad foot and brought it down upon the creature's neck.

With a loud earth-shattering thud, the creature's neck snapped and its body went into a haywire state of spasms and convulsions. Like a spider with its leg torn off the creature's body seemed hardwired to survive.

But that didn't stop Viktor from reaching down with his claw tipped gauntlets and brutally tearing the creature's head from its body.

Viktor looked over to Gaius, who had all his concentration on the convulsing cultists, when turning his attention back to them Viktor saw that once there were masses of writhing people with glowing blue brands burned into their flesh, there were now 10 squirming masses of flesh, human limbs and faces protruding from the piles.

It was not a pleasant sight, masses of writhing flesh, human voices screaming out in agony as their bodies were unnaturally fused together.

"Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding" Viktor's shoulders slumped as the masses tore open, blood and viscera spilling out, like sacks filled with blood and guts they tore open, revealing another 10 creatures, nigh identical to the one Viktor had just killed.

"Kill him" Gaius pointed at Viktor, every single one of the creatures looking at the Black-Haired twin.

"Oh, for god's sake" Viktor raised his fists as the creatures stampeded towards him. Two creatures tackling him and sending him crashing through a nearby wall.

Cyrus' clash with Gunmar continued, sparks flying as the ultra-dense alloy of Cyrus' sword made contact with the arcane enchanted blade of Gunmar's axe. Cyrus' style of fighting with a sword over the years had changed, evolved, into a custom style of Chinese, Japanese and European sword fighting.

His movements were fluid, lightning fast and powerful. Even with centuries of experience it was hard for Gunmar to keep up, and it took everything he had to keep the silver haired twin at bay. Luckily for him, Gaius joined the fray, drawing his Gladius and clashing with Cyrus.

With one particularly powerful strike, Cyrus was sent skidding backward.

"Well…you've certainly grown stronger over the years, boy" Gaius grinned behind his helm.

"You have no idea" Cyrus flourished his sword before taking it into a two-handed stance.

"How long has it been now? 100 years?" Gunmar asked as he shouldered his axe.

"120 by my count. Last time we saw this many of you was 30 years…you weren't in good shape as I recall and you bastards have been running ever since" Cyrus growled as he found himself being circled by both the Elite guard.

"Oh, we haven't been running…we've been preparing. You have no idea what is to become of this world in the coming days" Gaius said as he flourished his gladius slowly.

"What are you talking about?" Cyrus asked.

"Don't you pay attention to astrology boy? There is a solar eclipse in a few days…when the sun is blotted out by the shadow of the moon…there will be no future for you…or the world of humanity" Gunmar chuckled.

"An eclipse? You fuckers don't have much originality, do you?" Cyrus growled.

"You have no comprehension of what events are to come…your little crusade will have been for naught" Gaius said as he now stood to Cyrus' right side.

"Just shut up and fight" Cyrus growled.

When Gunmar and Gaius attacked, Cyrus acted quickly, with a single side step he was able to avoid Gunmar's downward axe strike. With his axe firmly imbedded in the ground, Cyrus leapt onto the handle.

Gaius' sword met resistance from Cyrus' blade and the two were stuck in a power struggle.

Gunmar looked up only to be met with a vicious kick from Cyrus. The Viking staggered back as his helmet was knocked clean off. Looking up at Cyrus, Gunmar's true face was still that same amalgamated mess of mandibles, eyes and tentacles.

"Good to see you are still as pretty as ever" Cyrus smirked.

Interrupting their little exchange, one of the hideous creatures that Gaius had summoned ran back into the warehouse through the hole they left, screaming and in flames. Both the elites looked with wide eyes as another creature was thrown into the warehouse, it's lower half dangling about as if its spine had been snapped in half.

Quickly after, Viktor stumbled through the hole, another one of the creatures grappling him from behind, its huge jaws wrapped around his shoulder while the Black-Haired twin held another by the throat.

*TWACK,TWACK,TWACK,TWACK!*

Viktor repeatedly punched the creature in the face, every hit creating a shockwave until its head flopped open, like its skull had been reduced to gravel. For mood measure, Viktor squeezed until he felt the creature's neck snap beneath his armoured hand.

"NO PIGGYBACKS!" Viktor roared, flames erupting from the grill in his visor as he reached back and grabbed a handful of the creature's tentacle-like hair.

With a single powerful tug, the creature was slammed down on the ground in front of Viktor. It barely had enough time to recover when Viktor pulled it up and rammed his fist through it's back. With a splatter of blood and gore, Viktor's clawed hand emerged from its chest, his super dense claws making short work of its leathery hide.

Letting out a fiery huff of air, Viktor turned back to the hole, another five of the creatures stalking through the hole, slime and drool dripping from them as they gazed at their opponent.

"Come on you shits! I'll have you all one by one" Viktor raised his fists.

Cyrus narrowed his eyes at the two elites who stood up straight and grinned "Your brother doesn't look like he'll last long by himself…those creatures are very tenacious" Gaius grinned as he sheathed his Gladius.

Gunmar's axe flew from the ground and back into his hand, the same with his helmet. The two Elite guards began to slowly back away, the sound of Viktor snarling and growling as he fought back the hideous creatures ringing in Cyrus' ears.

Cyrus growled, looking back and forth between Viktor and the two elites who began to walk away, smirking over their shoulders as a blue portal appeared in front of them.

Cyrus was faced with a choice, help his brother…or kill the Elites.

"God dammit!" Cyrus turned and dashed towards his brother.

One creature was gnawing on Viktor's right forearm while another was hanging from his back, its jaws clenched around his shoulder. The other three were grasping, clawing and attacking Viktor like rapid wolves, their numbers overwhelming him as his eyes began burning brighter with his rage.

But just as one of the creatures raised a clawed hand to strike down at Viktor, it was cleaved in half down the middle. Bloods and guts spilling all over the floor as Cyrus' blade made short work of its leathery hide.

Viktor let out a loud, fiery roar as he used every ounce of his brute strength to stand, carrying all four of the creatures with him. His glowing red eyes appeared to be on fire now, letting out another roar a wave of fiery energy knocked every one of the creatures off of his body.

"Cyrus what are you doing!? I can handle this!" Viktor growled at his brother.

"Obviously" Cyrus ran a finger along his sword, the runes along its edge glowing red before the blade was engulfed in flame.

The creatures all stood to their feet, snarling and slathering at the two brothers who almost simultaneously cracked their necks.

"You want the ones on the right?" Cyrus asked.

"I want the one that was chewing on my shoulder…other than that you can help yourself" Viktor growled as he bared his clawed gauntlets, the claws slowly heating up until the air around them began to condensate.

"You got it brother" Cyrus smiled as he flourished his flaming sword.

The first creature to leapt at Cyrus was swiftly impaled on the tip of his sword. Grinning behind his Visor, Cyrus reached out and grabbed the front of the creature's face. Cyrus' hand burned brightly and a jet of white-hot flame burned the creature's head until it was nothing but a crisp, burnt skull.

The next one leapt towards Viktor, only for Viktor to catch it in mid-air. The searing hot claws of Viktor's gauntlets burned into the creature's flesh, letting out a loud hissing. The creature snarled at Viktor only for him to rear his head back and let out a jet of flames from the grills in his visor. Viktor had always had the ability to breath fire, it may have given him a bit of heartburn in the past, but it was worth it to see his enemies fry.

Both brothers threw the burnt corpses of their enemies aside.

Now things were much more even, 2 on 2.

The last two creatures stampeded towards the brothers, both landing devastating shoulder tackles. The creatures were strong, strong enough to break a regular human in half, but Viktor and Cyrus were far from regular humans. Skidding on their metallic boots for a few feet, the two brothers grabbed a hold of their opponents and went to work.

Viktor twisted around and grabbed the upper and lower jaws of the creature and with a sickening snap, Viktor broke its jaw, its tooth filled maw flapping about as the ligaments holding it together had been mulched. Before it had a chance to attack again, Viktor threw a devastating uppercut into its gut before raising it above his head and bringing it's back down upon his knee.

*CRACK!*

Cyrus was simply content dodging and weaving through every one of the creature's swings, his body flowing like water around a rock before he finally swung his sword, steel carving through skin, flesh and bone like they were butter. The creature's right arm fell on the floor, flopping about like a fish on the deck, with another sword swing its left arm came free.

Then it's left leg

Then its right leg

When reduced to legless, armless torso, hissing and screeching at Cyrus, only then did he drive his flaming sword through the creature's head. Putting it out of its misery and frying whatever was inside its grotesque skull.

Looking around, the Twins noticed that the entire warehouse had turned into an abattoir, blood, bones, skin and flesh littered the place, belonging to humans and eldritch abominations both. The glyphs and markings on the floor were pretty unrecognisable, the blood making it hard to make out any of the old language that gave the order their arcane powers.

"Why did you do that?" Viktor said, throwing a glare at Cyrus.

"Do what?" Cyrus asked as he ran his hand along his sword, the flames evaporating as he did.

"Come and help me? You could have gotten one of those bastards, killed one of them, maimed one of them, instead you had to go and get involved with me" Viktor said with a tinge of anger in his voice.

"Like it or not, you are my only brother. And I was going to be dammed if I was going to risk your safety just to get back at those arseholes" Cyrus said, prodding a finger into Viktor's chest.

Viktor let out a sigh as he looked down at himself, blood, guts and viscera hanging from his clawed gauntlets. Squeezing his fists, the metal began to heat up and evaporate the blood from the surface, effectively cleaning his arms of the bloody stains.

"Thanks" Viktor muttered.

"You are most certainly welcome" Cyrus smiled behind his visor.

"Now, there is no way no one heard all that. We should get to work" Viktor replied.

"You got it" Cyrus raised his hand at the nearest wall. All of a sudden, a jet of flame burst from his hand and set fire to the wall.

Viktor went to doing the same, both the brother's eyes burned like torches as they went about setting fire to everything in the warehouse, burning corpses and remains to ash, setting curtains and rags alight to get rid of any evidence of what had taken place.

Once the two were done they stood in the middle of the burning warehouse, watching as the inferno took over everything around them. Slowly nodding at their work, the twins looked to each other.

"So…what next?" Viktor asked.

"We wait. Those arseholes said something about an eclipse within a few days, and I'm willing to bet it will have quite a pay-off. We simply have to buy our time, gather more info and if we are lucky, we can finish what they started all those years ago" Cyrus replied.

"Good plan" Viktor nodded.

With that the two Twins' feet began glowing with thermal energy and with a sudden burst of force they propelled themselves through the air. The thermal energy they propelled through their feet working like the thrusters of a rocket, giving them the ability to fly through the air.

The next few days were going to be very interesting for the Harrigan twins, they had been hunting their ancient enemy for eons, waiting and biding their time. Striking whenever they could and hitting hard whenever they got the chance. All for justice, to avenge the deaths of their father and the people of their village, to make sure the order couldn't hurt anyone else, to put an end to them once and for all.

Only when the blood of the last cultist of the order stained Viktor's hands or Cyrus' sword could they find their rest.

Little did they know, that the next few days would bring far more than a simple confrontation.

 **TO BE CONTINUED**

 **Well…that took a long time to set up…much longer than I expected. But now we have all of our heroes set up.**

 **The Gunslinger, Len Ryder**

 **The Celt, Cara Moriarty**

 **The Metamorph, Jake Jasper**

 **The Technomancer, Taka Kitano**

 **The Immortals, Viktor Harrigan and Cyrus Harrigan**

 **And of course, our veterans, The Spider and the Marvel, Peter Parker and Carol Danvers.**

 **I hope you guys are ready for a ride full of thrills and chills, following our heroes on their road to becoming a team. Also, in case you didn't guess already, The Obsidian Order are going to be the main antagonists for the Assembly arc and will continue to be Antagonists into the near future.**

 **Also, I will be developing the order as Antagonists as the story progresses, including the actual specifics of their worship, the members you haven't seen and the ways in which they are a threat.**

 **Hopefully the next chapter is up sooner. But regardless, I'll see you guys next time!**

 **NEXT TIME: The Day of Darkness**


	10. The Day of Darkness Pt1

**Yes, guys I know, like always it takes me a while to upload, I just hope the wait was worth it. References for designs come at the end of the chapter as always. As like always be sure to check out my friend Aspiringactor's Marvel: Reborn for more Reboot goodness!**

 **Hope you guys enjoy it!**

 **Avengers ANB 9**

 **The Day of Darkness**

 **Location: New York City, Greenwich, The Sanctum Santorum.**

Deep within the confines of the Sanctum Santorum, the master of the Mystic arts and the Sorcerer Supreme, Dr Stephen Strange sat cross legged suspended in the middle of his quarters. His eyes closed, his hands joined in his lap and the eye of Agamotto glowing around his neck.

The Sorcerer Supreme had been meditating for the better part of the day. Arcane patterns and sigils glowing all around him as he tapped into the magical energies of the earth.

"Wong, you know that really doesn't help with my concentration" Strange smirked as he opened one eye to look at his fellow Sorcerer.

Sat just a couple of feet away, head buried in a book with earphones on, was none other than Wong, Assistant, friend and fellow master of the mystical arts to the Doctor. Like he was known to do, Wong was listening to Beyoncé on full blast.

Taking one earphone from his right ear, Wong raised a brow and replied "Last I checked you never meditate this long, what's so different today?"

"Something in the fabric between realities, everything feels…fuzzy" Strange replied, closing his eyes and trying to concentrate once again.

"That may have something to do with the eclipse. Cosmic events such as the alignment of planets will sometimes tamper with the barrier between dimensions" Wong replied as he leaned back in his chair.

Strange continued to meditate, calmly concentrating on the cosmic energies that kept reality in check. His many incantations, spells and enchantments making the process all the easier, as the Sanctum itself was built upon a point of said energy.

All of a sudden, Strange's eyes shot wide open, a look of panic written upon his face. The sigils and arcane patterns going haywire as the ground beneath the Sanctum shook. Strange dropped to his feet and Wong shot up from his chair.

"You felt that?" Wong asked.

"Like a hammer to the face" Strange replied as he sped out of the room, Wong on his heels.

The two burst through the front doors of the Sanctum, into a street full of people all staring up into the sky. When the two Sorcerers looked up to where there would usually be the sun, burning brightly, in place was something that sent a chill crawling right up their spines.

What hung up in the sky was not any simple eclipse.

High in the sky was a gaping hole, surrounded in blue flame, and pouring from the mouth of that hole were hundreds of thousands of screeching abominations. Creatures pulled right from the deepest and darkest nightmares a person could have.

"We have work to do" Strange said with purpose in his voice as he stepped back into the Sanctum.

* * *

"I told you Tony, you don't have to worry about the Tower, you and Pepper just concentrate on having a good time" Taka chuckled as he reached for a rag to wipe the sweat from his face.

Both Tony and Pepper had went away for a week, a little get away in the Caribbean to spend a little time together and relax while Taka looked after Stark Tower. Right now, the young Japanese man was actually working on a new improved suit of armour, the Iron Hawk MK2. JARVIS like the good AI butler he was, watched over him to make sure he didn't accidently blow up the tower with his meddling.

" _I just don't want your experiments to end up putting a crater in my Tower. Remember Taka, all the money I have to spend to fix any damage is coming out of your inheritance when you get it"_ Tony chuckled on the other end of the line.

" _Don't listen to him Taka, JARVIS can handle anything you can't, just have fun and don't get too reckless ok?"_ Pepper smiled, leaning in behind Tony.

"You got it Pepper, you two just concentrate on getting some sunshine ok?" Taka smiled back as he reached for an arc welder.

" _Oh, we will"_ Pepper waved before disappearing from the hologram.

" _And remember, if anything goes wrong around the city, you've still got Carol and Pete to count on. If things get even worse just call Fury…"_

"Tony, don't worry…The city won't swallow itself just because the mighty Iron Man isn't here for a week" Taka chuckled as he put on his visor.

" _Yeah, I just…I worry ok? There I said it! I don't want the Robin to my Batman getting into trouble on his first day home alone"_ Tony chuckled.

"I'm touched, now please enjoy yourselves alright?" Taka asked.

Tony smirked before switching the screen off, the last image Taka saw was the look of concern and trust on his mentor's face. He could take care of himself and the city just fine, he had a little bit of experience under his belt, it had been months since he had laid the beat down on Scorpion, he had racked up quite a name for himself as the Iron Hawk.

He had stopped a Bank Robbery, ceased four more hostage situations, hell he even assisted Ms Marvel in stopping a Plane crash just outside the city.

With a flash of bright white light, Taka began welding, the arc welders that Tony had access to where of the finest and most advanced in the world. Perfect for leaving no marks upon the ultra-dense alloy that comprised both his and Taka's suits.

"You know some kids spend their time playing video games or sports" Happy said from behind Taka, holding an arm up in front of his face to not get blinded by the light from the arc welder.

"Most kids my age don't have IQs in the 200's, and many of them don't have access to the coolest tech on the planet" Taka smiled behind his visor.

Happy was left behind to somewhat watch over Taka while Tony and Pepper went on their vacation. He was a nice guy, a bit awkward when it came to tech and science, but he was always there for Tony and Pepper when they needed him, the same could be said for Taka. When Tony technically adopted Taka, Happy was worried he would be bringing back a screaming infant, imagine his surprise when his boss brought home a younger version of himself.

A version that didn't have nearly as much ego, but still a smart, rich kid with way too much time on his hands. A Kid that, like his mentor, had a thing for mechanized battle suits.

Said battle suit Taka was working on, was an upgraded version of what he was using right now. Tony had given him a few pointers and helpful tips, including a lesson on originality. Taka didn't want to just be another Iron Man, he wanted people to know the difference between him and his mentor. Of course, the crest on his helmet helped, but he needed more than that.

The new suit would be much larger, heavily armoured and armed to the teeth. Not as large as the Hulkbuster, but still large enough to intimidate foes, it was in the later stages of the development. A few more tweaks on the helmet and then Taka could leave it for JARVIS to finish up the alloy reinforcement and weapon installations.

"So, what can I help you with Happy?" Taka asked as he took off his visor and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"I'm not a Butler, Kid. I work for Tony in a professional sense, and right now that work involves keeping an eye on you" Happy replied with his arms folded.

"Are you trying to say you are babysitting me?" Taka asked with a raised brow, not looking in Happy's direction as he picked up a couple of tools and finished off some fine wiring.

"I'm pretty sure JARVIS has you covered on that account" Happy began to leave the room.

Taka chuckled and nodded his head as he closed an armour panel on his helmet. This new helmet had the same crest as his current helmet had, the same silver and blue colour scheme, just a larger emphasis on Taka's unique armour style rather than the smooth, streamlined style of Tony's suits.

That and the tonnes of hidden gadgets, weapons and other bells and whistles of his own design stored in between armour plates. Oh yes, the Iron Hawk MK2 was going to be a real fun armour to pilot.

"Ok, J man, I think this baby is all ready for Alloy reinforcement and assembly" Taka smiled as he picked up the large helmet from the workbench and carried it over to the other end of the room.

There, stood proudly in a cylindrical container was the rest of the MK2, standing at a good 7 and a half feet. The armour outline was very angular, much like one of the robots from anime Taka used to watch as a kid. He wanted his new armour to have his own personal flair, so he was doing everything he could to make himself stand apart from his mentor.

Placing the helmet onto the neck section of the new armour, Taka pressed a few commands into the keypad next to it. He was very happy with how the MK2 was turning out, soon he would be able to take to the streets in a new and improved suit.

The cylinder closed and JARVIS began the process of finishing off the new and improved armour suit. Taka reached to his forearms and scratched the itch he was feeling, little more than a few days ago he had injected nanites into his bloodstream.

Nanites that would allow him to mentally summon his suits towards him. Tony used these nanites whenever he needed one of his suits, some of his more advanced armours were entirely comprised of Nanites, though he said that kind of tech may have been too much for young Taka right now.

The young man walked over to where the MK1 was standing upright, its eyes powered down and its arc reactor in a sort of sleeping function. The armour plating of the MK1 had seen a bit of action in the recent months, as it was littered in scuff marks and chips in certain places.

He loved the MK1, it was his first suit and he would still be using it. But when compared to the MK2, it was a fast-tactical response suit, easier to summon and easier to repair and outfit. The MK2's bulkier design and enhanced arsenal made it more powerful, but not quite as fast.

Either way, Taka's imagination paired with his young genius would allow him to progress further than mere armour suits in the future. His mind was full to the brim with ideas, ideas what Stark tech and Tony's guidance would allow him to realize.

All to reach that one goal, always lingering in the back of his mind. To avenge his family, to hunt down the man that took his parents from him and make him pay.

"How long are we looking at JARVIS?" Taka asked, running his hand across the armoured chest of the MK1.

" _Approximately 5 hours, the enhanced weaponry systems along with the reinforced alloy will take the better part of that while general systems checks will take considerably less time"_ JARVIS replied.

"Good, then all we have to do is sit back, relax and…" Taka sat down on a nearby couch, put his hands behind his head and got ready to relax until he saw it.

The gaping hole in the sky that opened up where the sun should have been shining from. Almost immediately Taka shot up from the couch and stared in awe at the horrific sight before him.

"JARVIS, please tell me you see that" Taka asked, wide eyed.

" _I can confirm that there is some sort of cosmic phenomenon taking place, my sensors however cannot seem to detect the source, I can detect several hundreds life forms emerging from this phenomenon"_ JARVIS quickly replied in the driest way possible.

"Ok…well…I suppose relaxing can wait" Taka ran towards the MK1, with a single ounce of willpower the Armour came to life and the back segments spread open, welcoming its master to don it.

Taka stepped into the suit, its armour plates closing around him, Taka Kitano and the Iron Hawk MK1 becoming one. The eyes and the chest segment light up bright blue, cracking his neck from side to side, Taka began walking over to the launch pad of the tower.

" _JARVIS, send an Alert to SHIELD. I have a feeling this isn't just a trick of the light_ " Taka spoke as he powered up his repulsars.

" _Already sent. I've also went to the liberty of alerting all the local police and military forces"_ JARVIS replied instantly.

" _Now, I see why Tony has you running so much"_ Taka smirked behind his helmet.

" _Thank you, I do my best"_ JARVIS replied with a hint of what Taka assumed was pride.

Taka's repulsars powered up and shot him upwards from the launching planform, his metal clad form shooting into the sky and down into the city. Right now the city didn't have the Iron Man to protect it, but it did have the Iron Hawk to act in his stead.

* * *

"Now, are you sure you don't need me to pick you up?"

"I'm sure mom, stop worrying about it, it's just D&D"

"Just be sure to not skip dinner ok?"

"You got it mom" Jake smiled as he shouldered his backpack.

His mother always acted like this, it was a Saturday and that meant he was going to meet up with his friends for their scheduled D&D campaign. He had fully recharged from the other night where he had that tussle with Rhino. Taking the form of something as complicated and powerful as a Manticore pretty much made him sleep through an entire day.

His mom and dad didn't really bring up why he was so drained, then again, his parents mercifully never injected themselves in his personnel life or what he did in it. So, when it came to his attempted hero work, Jake was mercifully spared the endless questions from a doting mother and a suspicious father.

Jake walked down the streets, wearing a black hoodie, simple blue jeans and sneakers. In his bag where two things, his D&D kit consisting of a character sheet, dice and rule book and his hero outfit. The outfit he had put together with spray paint, random pieces of fabric and whatever clothing he could put together to look cool.

He was just one kid after all.

"And be sure to tell Mrs Morales I said hi!" Mrs Jasper shouted out to her son.

"I will mom" Jake shouted back with a smile and a wave.

Jake shook his head with a smile, his life was a relatively easy one. He had a loving mother, a strong and caring father, great friends, great grades, not to mention the fact he had freaking superpowers. He didn't know the specific origin of his powers, but he knew for a fact that he wasn't a Mutant.

It was hard for Jake to explain it, but as someone naturally gifted in Biology, anatomy and chemistry, he had done plenty of research. He knew about the Mutant Gene, and he knew for a fact he didn't have it. He knew pretty much down to a T, what genes comprised his DNA, and the Mutant Gene was not one of them.

It was something that would usually drive other people mad. Having these extraordinary abilities and having no idea where they had come from, but it didn't bother Jake. He just saw it as something to be discovered later on, if he ever did. All he knew was that he wanted to grow up to be just like his hero Ben Grimm. To use these abilities to protect the people around him.

It was a simple dream, and one he thought he could make good on.

But right now, all Jake wanted to do was meet his friends and play their scheduled game of D&D. Yeah it was a nerdy pastime, but Jake was a proud nerd, movies, video games, comics books, D&D, you name it and he was invested.

Last they played he and his adventuring party were stuck deep in an ancient mine, formerly a Dwarven kingdom, now inhabited by cannibalistic Mer-folk that worshiped an ancient sea god. He played a human druid, nothing more awesome than transforming into a Rhino and goring an enemy, or a lion that could take an opponent's head clean off with one claw swipe.

Just as Jake was walking, he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. Taking a second to fish it out of his jeans and look at the caller ID, Jake accepted the call and held it to his ear with a smile.

"Hey Miles, what's up man?" Jake cheerfully replied.

" _Great Man, we're just about set up. How much longer you gonna be?"_ his friend Miles replied over the phone.

"Not long dude, just a couple of blocks away. I just…just…" Jake stopped in his tracks, his eyes widening and his jaw practically dropping.

" _Jake? Jake you okay?"_ Miles asked over the phone.

"Dude…look outside" Jake said as the sounds of people panicking filled the air.

"… _Oh…Oh my god, dude forget the game, are you closer to home or my place?"_ Miles asked with a panicking tone.

"Uh…My place" Jake replied quickly understanding what had to be done.

" _Then get home dude, it isn't worth getting caught up in this"_ Miles replied with concern in his voice.

"You got it man, keep the guys safe ok?" Jake said before switching off his phone.

However, young Jake Jasper wasn't going home. He didn't like lying to one of his best friends, but that gaping hole in the sky made this a very bad situation, a lot of people were in danger, and if he didn't do something then a lot of people would die.

He quickly found an alleyway to get changed in.

It was time for Jake Jasper to disappear, and for Amalgam to take his place.

* * *

Cara Moriarty stared at the cup in front of her, her hands clasped as she simply watched the steam rise from the hot beverage. She sat by herself at a table outside of a coffee shop, choosing to get rid of her hangover in the best way she could.

By trying to enjoy the nice weather, a hot cup of coffee, the sound of people talking and the presence of the one friend she had in this world.

Her St Bernard, Bubba.

The big dog was laying down by her feet, his tail wagging gently side to side. Cara had Bubba since he was a little puppy, he was a pet her father had gotten her, and no matter how much time passed, the big fluffy sweetheart always reminded her of her dad.

Just as Cara reached down and scratched the big dog behind his ears, someone sat down opposite her.

The Celtic lass didn't need to look up to know who it was.

"Hello Jim" she finally looked up to meet eyes with the Bartender.

"Cara" Jim nodded as he clasped his hands in front of him. The look on his face made him look totally uncomfortable.

"So…how are you?" Jim asked.

"Doing fine" Cara replied, absentmindedly scratching Bubba behind the ears.

"…Good…Good" Jim replied, nervously scratching the back of his head.

"I came to your apartment yesterday…you weren't there" Jim tried his best to start a conversation.

"I had a fight yesterday" Cara replied briefly once again. Barely giving Jim anything to work with.

Jim barely ever noticed when Cara had her fights, she never showed bruising, probably because whenever she came up against an opponent, they would never get the chance to get a hit in. He always wondered how she was such a good fighter, but after that little display in the alley the other night…he had bigger questions for her.

"So, want to talk about what happened?" Jim asked with crossed arms.

"Please, I'm not in the mood" Cara murmured before taking a sip of her coffee.

"Well, I'm sorry but I can't let that go…I mean what…what are you?" Jim asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you" Cara looked off into the distance.

"I don't know, I can believe some crazy shit. I saw you sprout black angel wings and freeze a man's face off, not to mention I should be dead, any explanation I can take will do" Jim replied in a hushed tone.

"…not a lot of people back home believe in the old gods, the ones we worshiped before Christianity. Before the Trinity came along, we believed in all sorts of gods, we believed in Giants, Faeries, Gods of death, Gods of Fate, Gods of Fertility…there were a lot of those last ones by the way" Cara said with a chuckle at that last bit.

"…a few years ago, people thought that so many of the gods of the old world were just myths, the Norse gods, the Greek Pantheon, I could go on. But now, that the Norse god of Thunder is a celebrity, it hopefully won't be too stupid to believe the old Celtic gods are real too" Cara looked up and locked eyes with Jim.

"You…you aren't a god, are you?" Jim asked with a raised brow.

"You think a god would have to resort to MMA fights to keep paying her rent?" Cara chuckled.

"Well when you put it like that…" Jim chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"...The best way to put it, is that…" Just as Cara was about to explain, a horrified scream pierced the air. The Irish redhead shooting up to see people running and screaming down the streets, away from something.

When she and Jim looked into the sky, they could see the reason why. A gaping hole in the sky where the sun should be, creatures pouring out and into the streets below. The screams only got louder as people fled into the buildings or into cars to try and flee. The panic in the air could be felt, and Cara felt that familiar feeling creep inside her.

The call, it had to be sated.

Police sirens could be heard in the distance as inhuman screeches and roars quickly followed. Cara didn't know what was happening, but the thing deep within her screamed to be let lose, to be unchained and unleashed. And this time, Cara couldn't see herself keeping it hidden.

"Bubba, buddy you've got to go, it isn't safe here" Cara cradled her dog's big fluffy head in her hands.

"Jim, here, take my keys and get Bubba home" Cara flung her keys at the Bartender.

"Wait, what!?" Jim asked with utter shock and confusion.

Cara looked back at him, the black veins engulfing the skin around her eyes, the tips of her red hair turning black and the air around her getting cold. Cara then pulled a piece of cloth from her jacket pocket and tied it around her face like a bandana.

"Uh, yeah, yeah ok…" Jim quickly grabbed Bubba's leash and stood up.

"The two of you stay safe" Cara said with concern as Jim ran with Bubba close behind him. The St Bernard was clever and knew to follow his mistress' orders. Cracking her neck from side to side, Cara began walking towards the source of the disturbance.

Slowly and with the audible sound of bones cracking, Cara's beck began to morph and distort underneath her leather jacket. The people running past her froze when they saw the two huge black angel wings sprout from Cara's back.

The Black winged form of Cara shot into the sky, her huge black angel wings propelling her into the air towards were the feeling within her chest willed her to go. Even then, she could hear that little voice in the back of her head, whispering it's will within her.

* * *

* **BANG!**BANG!**BANG!***

The shooting range was very active with the sound of gunshots, SHIELD Agents keeping their marksmanship up. Many of the agents were firing off handguns, a few fired off semi-auto assault rifles, and a few fired off higher calibre handguns like Dessert Eagles.

But one person at the range had a few more weapons to fire, this particular agent had a special cubicle at the range, with reinforced targets. Why reinforced targets you may ask?

Probably because this Agent had the most powerful firearms of any Agent in SHIELD.

*BANG!*

A single extra loud gunshot almost immediately silenced every other Agent at the range, their attention drawn to the man standing at his specially made cubicle.

Stood there, holding a smoking revolver, was none other than Len Ryder, Agent DeadEye. The best sharpshooter in SHIELD, a certified weapons expert who specialized in precision shooting. He was wearing most of his impact armour and recoil brace with the exception of his Poncho and helmet, which lay on the table next to his weapons.

The revolver he was holding was a heavily modified Revolver of his own design. It resembled a Remington 1858, only it had been fitted to have both a breech loader and a flip out chamber. The rounds were modified to be explosive tipped, way more impact and penetration. Some people may have said it was overkill to have armour piercing side-arms.

But Len always believed that either you go big or go home.

These Revolvers were Len's new babies, he nicknamed them the Rattlers, on the account of the rattlesnake engravings on the grips. Besides, the sound of the cartridges entering the chamber sounded like the rattles of a rattlesnake.

He was a Texas boy, he had run ins with rattlers before, and they were no laughing matter.

Neither were his new guns.

Len turned to see all the Agents looking at him with his twin revolvers. With a raised eyebrow, Len looked back and forth between his Rattlers and the guns the other Agents were holding.

"I hope I'm not making you guys self-conscious" he smirked as he twirled his Rattlers before holstering them at his sides.

A few agents shook their heads, a few continued trying to ignore Len's comment, and the few that paid attention squeezed their earmuffs against their ears in preparation as Len drew his most powerful firearm from his armpit holster.

The Agents that frequented the firing range knew to keep their ears shut when Len pulled out the Dragonmaw.

Pulling back the slide, popping in a new high explosive, armour piercing shell, Len aimed the Dragonmaw with both hands. He concentrated as he stared down the sights, lining up the shot, blotting out the noise of 45 calibre handgun fire and the smell of discharged gunpowder in the shells.

The target was a stone statue, a few large holes where his Rattlers had done their damage. Smirking as he side eyed all the other agents, Len squeezed the trigger.

* **KRAKOOOOOOM!***

The nozzle flash of the Dragonmaw would have blinded anyone looking in that direction, the sound of its roar dwarfing the sound of 45 gunfire. The head of the statue was blown to smithereens, and left a sizeable crater on the wall behind it. No doubt the techs would have fun buffing that out.

"Agent Ryder" came a loud voice, shouting from behind. Len raised a brow and slowly turned, he met eyes with a short man in a black suit, bald and wearing glasses with a pair of earmuffs squeezed tightly against his head.

"Sitwell, always a pleasure" Len smirked as he twirled the Dragonmaw before holstering it.

"You know, you could use something less likely to blow out your eardrums" Sitwell said with an uncomfortable wince, his ears probably still ringing from the echo of the Dragonmaw.

"My eardrums are stronger than regular humans, that won't happen, besides, who wants to live forever?" Len asked as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigar. Biting into the end of the cigar and spitting out the end, Len also pulled out a box of matches, proceeding to strike it across the palm of his gloved hand.

"You know this is a no smoking area?" an Agent said with an annoying tone from one of the other cubicles.

"Really? Mind telling me all the reasons I should give two fucks?" Len asked with a smile as he held the cigar to his lips and lit it with the match. Taking along drag of the cigar, he then let out all the smoke with a satisfied huff before flipping the bird to the angered agent.

"Fury wants to speak with you, he has a mission that seems to be up to your speed" Sitwell took his earmuffs off.

"Oh goodie, another scalding. Well, let's not keep cheery Nick waiting" Len replied, taking another drag on his cigar before flinging his poncho around his shoulders and picking up his helmet. Len walked past every Agent, still flipping the bird to every one that gave him a glare or murmured an insult.

Len Ryder was not the most well-behaved Agent of SHIELD, but then again it wasn't his manners that made him a valuable asset, every Agent in the room knew he could kill every last one of them with those gunslinging skills of his.

The manners of Agent DeadEye were something one would either have to get used to, or simply grin and bear it. The last agent to pick a fight with him ended up in the infirmary for a month. As it turned out Len was also a dirty hand to hand fighter who wasn't afraid to pistol whip someone in the groin when he wanted.

"Do you have to smoke those things?" Sitwell asked as he walked besides Len, still smoking his cigar.

"Nope, do you have to be an insufferable dib-shit with a stick up his ass?" Len asked, a bit of his southern drawl coming out in his insult.

Sitwell shook his head in disdain, he didn't like the costumed Agents, Romanov could be testy at times, Morse and Drew were professional enough, Barton was a pain in the ass sometimes, but Ryder was simply insufferable. It was almost like he made it his business to make people hate his guts.

When Sitwell and Len walked into the main Base of operations on the Helicarrier, they were quickly met with the site of the meeting table. Sat there were some of the aforementioned special agents, Agent Natasha Romanov, AKA the Black Widow, Clint Barton, AKA Hawkeye and Jessica Drew, AKA Spiderwoman.

Stood at the head of the table was the Director of SHIELD, Nick Fury, his eye patch not at all covering the scowl on his face. Looking equally annoyed right next to Fury was none other than his second in command, Maria Hill and on his left the always calm and collected Agent Phil Coulson.

"Ok…what did I do this time?" Len asked after a particularly long drag on his cigar.

"Surprisingly, nothing yet" Jessica replied with a smirk as she leaned forward, her chin resting in her right palm.

"Give it time" Clint remarked, him and Len narrowing their eyes at each other.

"There has been a situation that requires all of your full attention" Coulson announced, getting all the Agents to perk up, except Len who had sat down and had his feet up at the table. Fury rolled his eyes…his eye at that.

"Approximately, 1 hour ago, a group of unidentified individuals hijacked a large office complex in downtown New York…" Hill began to brief the Agents on the situation.

 ***EARLIER THAT DAY**

People went about their day as they usually did, they woke up, said goodbye their families, they went to work, drank their coffee, taxi drivers took their passengers from point A to point B and accountants and retail workers wished their days would go faster. All in all, it seemed to be shaping up to be an average New York day.

But at a certain office complex, things weren't going to stay very normal. Down in the lobby, security guards small-talked, secretaries took phone calls, but even as these people went about their days, the front doors opened.

Five large men, all dressed in long black overcoats walked up to the front desk, the man in front was very tall, at least 7 foot with a bushy beard, shoulder length auburn hair that was greying at the sides and piercing blue eyes.

"Hello Ms. How are you this morning?" the man asked with a wide smile.

"Quite fine sir, do you have an appointment?" the secretary asked, a little taken back by the man's height.

"Oh, of course we do my child. An appointment with a power higher than anyone in this building could achieve" he smiled before gesturing to the other men.

The bearded man with the facial tattoo smiled as he held out his hand, and a two-handed battle-axe materialized in his hand.

From outside the building, three large vans opened wide, dozens of men wearing black robes began to pour into the building. Their robes resembled those of shaolin monks with the exceptions of armoured plates covering their vital areas, black hoods and masks resembling clusters of tentacles and skulls.

Every single one of these men had a sword either at their hip or back, a pistol holstered on their side, and a few carried assault rifles. These men were armed to the teeth, the ones in more ornate robes seemed to be better armed, and a few even had the same ethereal glowing blue eyes.

"Hey! Stop right the…" one security guard said before he was quickly cut down when one of the robed men drew a sword and decapitated him.

The guard next to him drew a pistol, yet never got the chance to fire, as before he could even squeeze the trigger, he was sliced in half down the middle by Gunmar's battle-axe. People all around the lobby screamed at the top of their lungs as the armed men in black advanced on them.

The other three large men held out their hands and weapons of their own materialized. A Roman Gladius, a Chinese Longsword and an Egyptian Kopesh. The large man smiled as the robed men began rounding up all the people in the lobby and swiftly cutting down any that challenged or stood up to them.

"Don't be afraid child…today, is a good day" Fulgrim smiled at the secretary, his eyes glowing an ethereal blue.

Every time Fulgrim smiled, it didn't feel genuine, it felt like an alien's interpretation of a smile. There was no joy, or happiness in his cold blue eyes, it was a façade plain and simple. Like every crack and crevice of his human face, it felt false, dishonest, as if it were a leather mask covering something cold and unfeeling.

"Round up the weak, kill the strong and bring their bodies!" Gunmar ordered to the Zealots of the Order.

Gunmar, Khui, Gaius and Xiao Yun all took off their overcoats, their armoured forms shimmering over them in a flare of blue flame. The illusion of their human forms dissipating and being replaced by the armour-clad forms of the Elite guard.

Fulgrim's glowing blue eyes began to shimmer brighter as his form changed to the form he was used to, the form of an 8-foot-tall man, clad in full plate armour, with the sword of Alden Harrigan hanging from his waist. His helmet hadn't materialised however, leaving his human face open to the air.

"Proceed to the roof…we have work to do" Fulgrim smiled.

 ***Meanwhile, halfway across town**

"Yeah, you don't have to worry about the city Tony, me and Carol have it covered. Besides, you said it yourself that Taka is more than capable of picking up the slack. I mean what's the worse than could happen? We haven't had a threat that needed any of us to go serious in a loooong time" Peter spoke into the phone, standing upside down on the underside of ledge.

"Is he still worrying?" Carol asked, peeking over the side of the ledge.

"Like a doting mother" Peter replied.

"I hope something does happen, bank heists and muggings get a bit boring after a while" she said as she sat down, letting her legs dangle off the edge of the building.

"If anything does happen Tony, we can handle it, you and Pepper just enjoy your time ok? Give Taka a call and check in if you want, we have everything on lockdown" Peter smiled.

"Ok…Ok, Bossman, we'll see you when you get back, bye" Peter smiled before hearing Tony hang up on the other side of the line.

"Are we free yet?" Carol smirked.

"We're free" Peter smiled back as he walked over the edge.

"Great, now we can…" Carol began until she picked up the sound of police sirens in the distance.

"…Find out whatever that is?" Peter asked, finishing Carol's sentence.

"You're dam right" Carol smiled back.

Carol wasted no time in grabbing Peter by the scruff of his neck, a display he had grown used to, and shot up into the sky. Peter knew that Carol could fly way faster than he could web swing, and in situations like this, it was better to not fight it.

Just as they rounded a corner, both the former Avengers' eyes widened. There was a blockade of cop cars and SWAT vehicles parked up right in front of a particularly large office complex. Officers and SWAT forces were set up, fully armed and ready for anything. Obviously, whatever was going on was beyond the usual hostage situation they would encounter.

If only they knew what they were in for.

* * *

There, stood in the centre of the roof with his arms outstretched, was Fulgrim, the current leader of the Obsidian Order. Gathered around him were each of his closest followers, all knelt in a large circle, chanting old ritualistic rites long forgotten to the modern world.

The most heavily armed zealots, wielding assault weapons and close quarters weaponry, were stood on the edges of the roof, looking out for any threats.

The Elite Guard stood with their weapons at the ready, their eyes faintly glowing blue in unison as the chants grew louder. Gunmar tightly gripped his axe, Ahui held his Kopesh in one hand while his whips were rolled up on his hips, Xiao Yun held his longsword in both hands and had his bow and quiver of arrows on his back and finally Gaius gripped his gladius.

Every one of the Elite guards' weapons were glowing and engulfed in ethereal blue flame. Whatever was going to happen next, they were ready for a fight.

Fulgrim's eyes glowed brighter and brighter, the smile disappearing from his face as he felt the moment at hand. Looking up in the sky, he could feel the moon's shadow blotting out the sun before him. The human façade began to crumble, and with that his helmet materialized over his head, covering whatever inhuman monstrosity took the place of his human head.

" _It is time"_ Fulgrim borderline growled, his voice partially distorting behind his helm.

Fulgrim walked to the centre of the circle and held both his arms out. Zealots began bringing out civilians to form a smaller circle within the larger one, the bound and gagged civilians were brought to their knees.

More Zealots began drawing sigils and markings on the floor with pre-prepared blood and salt. Four Zealots stood close to Fulgrim, all holding large, ceremonial daggers in their hands.

" _Oh, great ones of the void. I beseech you, as Kin, to hear my pleas!"_ Fulgrim growled in his distorted voice.

" _By mortal flesh I have waited, and by mortal form I have planned. Until the day where the sun's light is blotted out by the shadow of its moon, where the fabric of reality is at its thinnest, I beseech you, hear my cry!"_ Fulgrim growled yet again in line with the chanting of the zealots around him.

" _By Blood we were sealed away in the dark…and by blood we shall rise again!"_ Fulgrim growled as the Zealots held their daggers to the throats of the captives.

*THWIP!*

The daggers, all of a sudden were yanked out of the hands of the zealots by what was obviously webbing. There, squatting down on his hunches with an unconscious Zealot at his feet, was the Amazing Spider-Man himself.

"These are big knives, you guys compensating for something?" Peter tilted his head to the side as he let the daggers clatter to the floor.

The nearest cultist swerved around and aimed his assault rifle at Peter, but before he could fire off a shot, a black gloved hand wrapped around the barrel and bent it upward. The Zealot met eyes with none other than the golden haired Kree Hybrid herself, Ms Marvel. With barely any effort, Carol sent her knee into the Zealot's gut, knocking the wind out of him and causing him to fall to all fours.

"Now, now, no teasing. I bet these guys take their creepy ritual killings seriously" Carol said, cracking her knuckles.

Fulgrim's blue ethereal eyes went scathing, the air around him shaking with anger as he glared at the two former Avengers. Raising a single clawed gauntlet, he pointed his index finger directly at the two of them, blue flames faintly enshrouding his hand.

" _ **Bring me their blood"**_ he growled, his voice echoing.

"Uh, ok…apparently they take it very seriously" Peter stood up and cracked his neck side to side.

The Zealots attacked, bearing their close quarters combat weapons, and to the surprise of both Peter and Carol, their swords, daggers and whatever weapons they wielded were engulfed in blue flame.

Carol shot two of the attacking Zealots with energy blasts, the third she quickly dodged and grabbed by the scruff of the neck, only to be hurled at another two zealots. The fourth however managed to get the drop on the Blonde with a blue flamed katana.

Carol's eyes widened substantially when the flaming cut her left cheek.

Quickly punching the Zealot in the face, sending him tumbling to the floor like a sack of bricks, Carol immediately brought her hand up to her face to check her wound.

Her skin was ultra-dense, nothing short of adamantium, vibranium or other ultra-dense alien materials could pierce it, and Carol had been around T'Challa and Logan long enough to know those swords weren't either of the aforementioned metals.

Then again, there was one other option, these guys weren't any old crazy terrorists or doomsday cult, these guys were legit magic users. And Carol knew from Stephen and Wanda, that magic users were not to be trifled with.

Peter however was managing to hold his own quite well, not a single one of the attacking zealots could land a hit on the agile and graceful Spider-Man. Peter's skin wasn't ultra-dense like Carol's, so he had to be much more careful when fighting armed opponents.

One Zealot would try to decapitate him while another went for his legs, but Peter would leap up, spinning in place between the blades before landing on his hands and round housing both attackers in the face.

Peter's enhanced agility, dexterity, unnaturally limber frame, spider-sense and experience made him the perfect match for these sword wielding Zealots.

That was until something caught Peter's leg and yanked him to the floor.

" _May I have this dance?"_ Ahui smirked behind his helmet as he flourished his Kopesh.

Carol was about to leapt to Peter's aid, until a large armoured gauntlet wrapped around her sash, yanked her away into a waiting fist. Carol thought Banner had planted one on her when she was sent crashing into the floor, stone cracking beneath her as she groggily opened her eyes to see the huge armoured Viking standing there with his glowing blue eyes.

" _Hello Beautiful"_ Gunmar grinned, reaching down and wrapping a huge armoured hand around her throat and picking her up to eye level.

"Thanks for the compliment" Carol's blue eyes began to glow with energy before she grabbed the armoured hand and used every ounce of her superhuman strength to viscously send both feet into the gut of the hulking figure of Gunmar.

" _GUGH!"_ Gunmar grunted as he staggered back, clutching his gut with one hand while he used his Axe to steady himself.

" _Don't either of you two get in the way, she is mine!"_ Gunmar growled, pointing his axe at Gaius and Xiao Yun.

Carol quickly noticed the other two large, obviously high-ranking fighters standing nearby, the Roman and Chinese looking ones if their armour and weaponry were anything to go by. They looked rather uninterested with their arms folded and their stances relaxed. The nearby Zealots on the other hand seemed to take the Viking's words to heart as they kept their distance.

"Who the hell are you guys? And what the hell is this?" Carol finally addressed the Elephant on the roof by gesturing to the ritual that was taking place.

" _Questions, Questions, Questions. You'll be dead soon enough, why waste time explaining? It would just go over your head anyway"_ Gunmar smirked as he flourished his axe.

Carol growled, this guy was just aching for a beating, but she couldn't just recklessly throw herself at him. That punch still left her head ringing, he was strong as hell, durable as hell too to still be conscious after that kick to the gut. And if this guy's axe was anything like those swords, then her skin may as well have been like an ordinary person's right now.

" _You scampering little runt, I'll enjoy crafting your skin into a coat"_ Ahui cackled behind his helmet as he reeled Peter in with his whip.

"Wow, pretty cheap buddy, can't afford a coat yourself?" Peter quipped before slinging a Web at Ahui's face, causing the Egyptian to grunt and reach up to tear the webbing away.

Peter used this opportunity to untangle his leg from the whip.

"You guys obviously don't know who we are so I'll cut you some slack. Let the hostages go, put down your weapons and you'll be some tender loving treatment as opposed to the beating I should give you" Peter said with a lot of sincerity and a hint of sarcasm.

" _No, you don't understand. You and the other costumed fools of this world. Today is the day the new world rises, and you are merely meat in the face of what is coming"_ Ahui tore the webbing from his face and flourished his Kopesh.

Peter leapt forward and landing a combination of close quarters attacks. A right hook was followed by a left jab, an uppercut and a spinning capoeira kick to the head.

Ahui's Anubis shaped helm didn't budge, and the way he glared at Peter after his onslaught was unnerving, those glowing blue eyes peering from behind the eyepieces of that grim looking visage of a Helmet was something out of a horror movie.

"Ok…this...is gonna be harder than I thought" Peter realized when his punches didn't leave much of an effect.

" _You have fight…I'll enjoy stripping that away"_ Ahui grinned behind his helmet before he lunged at Peter with his Kopesh. The Egyptian was annoyed at the flexibility Peter showed, but the Spider enhanced human had to admit he was having trouble dodging the attacks.

This was proven when Ahui managed to slice through Peter's thigh, his suit giving way followed by skin and flesh. The cut wasn't too deep, but it was deep enough to leave a scar, if Peter survived this it would be another for the collection.

"AGH!" Peter fell to the floor gripping his wound.

" _Now that is a pretty sight"_ Ahui smirked as he brought the blade up to his helmet. Out from the mouthpiece of the Anubis, a long tongue, covered in suction cups slithered out and lapped up the fresh blood adorning his kopesh.

" _Delicious"_ Ahui hissed like a snake.

"I'm afraid I'm not giving out free samples!" Peter propelled himself at Ahui and threw a devastating roundhouse to the Egyptian's mid-section.

Using every ounce of Agility and strength he could, Peter went all out on the armour-clad Egyptian in front of him. Normally he would hold back when fighting opponents, making sure to not to kill them or cause serious irreparable injury. But it was obvious he could not afford to take it easy on this man, he was much tougher than the average street punk.

Peter knew superhuman opponents well, and this guy was not a pushover.

" _The Eclipse has reached it's Apex my lord"_ one Zealot announced, earning the full attention of Fulgrim and all four Elite Guard.

Fulgrim's blue ethereal gaze went straight to the moon above them, the desperation in his eyes reaching their apex as his entire body became engulfed in the blue ethereal flames his followers adorned their weapons in.

" _THE TIME HAS COME!"_ Fulgrim proclaimed at the top of his lungs, drawing Alden Harrigan's sword from its sheath and driving it into the floor beneath him.

The Zealots gathered around him held the captives tightly, raising their heads to gaze at the moon above them. Unbeknownst to Peter and Carol, the brands located on the bodies of the Zealots began to glow bright blue as Fulgrim let out a deep and grumbly snarl.

All of a sudden, four large black spiked legs, resembling those of a Lobster or Spider emerged from Fulgrim's back, an audible cracking of bone and shredding of flesh as they dripped hot black ooze. The legs were long, armoured and spindly, the sort you would expect from a nightmare.

The four arms sprung to attention like the head of a Cobra and lunged in all four directions, impaling the captive civilians and the Zealots holding them.

"NO!" Peter shouted in terror, attempting to leap at Fulgrim, only to get a powerful roundhouse to the chest from Ahui when he tried.

" _Stay down, you'll want to see this part"_ Ahui smirked as he kept Peter pinned to the floor with one armour clad boot.

The blood from the eight victims began running down the legs towards Fulgrim, and the moment the blood made contact with the ground, the sigils and runes began to glow bright blue. Fulgrim raised the sword high in the air, the runes and marking upon it glowing an ethereal blue.

" _By my hand…I tear this barrier asunder!"_ Fulgrim growled before bringing the sword down, driving the tip through his mid-section. A spray of pitch-black blood covered the ground in front of him, with a loud inhuman roar of pain, Fulgrim ripped the sword free from his flesh, the blade now burning brightly with glowing ethereal energy.

" _Azch Bet Daa, Faa Gregh Bul, Tal Vez Gagh, Klatau Bin Veerata, Uuz Ein Haaagh"_ Fulgrim began chanting in some strange inhuman tongue. The Zealots gathered around him chanting the same words in unison.

The eclipse above grew darker and darker with every word spoken, and with one two handed swing of his blade, the shadow of the moon appeared to be cleaved in two. The Zealots dropped to all fours, praying to the now cleaved open moon, the Elite Guards slowly chuckling.

Carol and Peter's eyes had never been wider in shock, as thousands of tiny shapes began to appear from the mouth of the open moon. Many of these shapes grew larger as they dropped from the skies, and neither Hero had ever seen their like before.

The creatures looked like the stuff of nightmares.

Giant flying creatures, bony and skeletal with black raven wings soared down, screeching like harpies. Claws as sharp as meat hooks and horrible tumorous sores covering what little flesh, they were covered in. Multiple sets of eyes peering out from multiple places.

Humanoid creatures, standing at the height of men, but covered in fish-like scales and fins. Clawed and webbed hands, gills and gaping mouths yet covered in barnacles and protruding growths that looked like Tentacles. These things leapt from rooftop to rooftop, scouring the streets bellow.

Some creatures were simpler in their design: long and lanky limbs with barely any flesh on them, skeletal heads that resembled those of stags. Long, barnacle covered antlers and glowing yellow eyes. Some were like Insectoid mix-matches of Mantis, Spiders and Scorpions, all bearing barnacle growths, tumours and the odd tentacle protrusion.

A few larger creatures fell from the skies, huge hulking creatures sharing the posture of Gorillas, with huge ram-like horns protruding from their thick skulls. Bulging, rippling muscles covered in thick leathery skin, long tentacle protrusions slithering out of the backs of their heads.

And that was only a few of the descriptions racing through the heads of Carol and Peter as they gazed in horror at the numerous monstrosities pulling themselves through the freshly carved moon.

These things were not natural, they weren't aliens, they weren't like anything the Avengers had fought before.

" _The Gate is open…let the new world…begin"_ Fulgrim smiled as black blood continued to pour freely from his chest.

* * *

 ***1 Hour later**

The NYPD and the Military had set up barricades on the outskirts of the city, they had tried to keep this attack as contained as they could. It would be a while until reinforcements from SHIELD would arrive, until then they had to keep whatever these…creatures were at bay.

"Keep them back! Hold the line!" one soldier shouted as he fired an M-16 at the creatures that were crawling on the sides of buildings like insects.

"We can't keep these things back for much longer, they'll overrun us if we don't get any backup soon" one high ranking Officer said as he crouched behind his squad car.

Blood was dripping down an open wound on his head, and he shakily held a pump action shotgun in his hands. He had already seen many of his friends and colleagues get torn to shreds, eaten alive and much worse.

"We have to keep them back! If not, they'll spread like Lo…" the soldier began explaining until his head was snipped off his shoulders by a pair of lobster-like claws.

"Holy fuck!" other soldiers shouted out as this hulking Crustacean monstrosity lumbered over the nearest squad car.

This thing looked like a giant Lobster the size of a Humvee, it had one huge pincer claw and another larger crusher claw as big as a man. It was covered by a dark red armoured carapace, littered by barnacles. Instead of a Lobster head, its upper section rose up like a Centaur, only instead of a human torso, there was a broad hulking body, and a mouth full of pincers and two eyes on retractable stalks.

It made an awful, horrendous clicking sound as the squad car collapsed underneath it's immense weight. Whatever bullets were fired at this monstrosity, bounced off its heavily armoured form.

The Officer couldn't even find the strength to raise his shotgun as this lumbering creature picked up the body of the soldier and began gnawing on its headless stump. The creature seemed to notice the Officer trembling just a few feet from it and dropped the corpse to the floor.

The Officer squeezed his eyes shut and turned away, too terrified to face the lumbering nightmare that had noticed him. He didn't want the last things he saw to be a massive lobster claw bigger than him and that horrendous mandible filled face.

But as he waited for the death blow.

It didn't come.

Then…

 ***CRACK!***

The sound of bones crunching, of flesh tearing followed by a whimper of a clicking sound filled the air. And when the officer opened his eyes, he was met with a sight he wasn't sure what to think about.

Standing there, was a 7-foot man with long black hair, glowing red eyes, wearing a metallic visor over the lower half of his face. He stood there, with his fiery clawed gauntlet protruding from the chest of the Lobster creature.

"You know, I don't like Lobster that much…more of a Shrimp fan myself" Viktor grinned before ripping his hand free from the creature's chest. A splatter of boiling flesh spilling onto the floor as the Lobster creature swerved around to attack the Red eyed brit.

Viktor swiftly dodged the swing of the monster's claw and leapt over the top of it, grabbing its head in his hands as he did. Viktor twisted in place once he was directly above the creature, breaking its neck and severing all of its tendons, making it easy when he tore its head clean off. A spray of boiling hot crustacean blood gushed from the headless stump as it fell forwards, it's legs and claws still twitching.

Viktor brought the head up to his face and smirked at it. The Lobster's mandibles still twitched and its eye stalks retracted with fear before the Black-haired brit tossed it to one of the soldiers. The soldier in question caught the head by reflex but quickly dropped it to the floor in response, earning a chuckle from Viktor.

"Good job holding the line lads. But I think it's best you left work like this to the professionals" Viktor hoped over the wrecked car and extended the clawed tips of his Gauntlet fingers.

Dozens of creatures filled the streets, all glaring at Viktor with hungry jaws and slathering jaws. They bared their teeth, claws, fangs, whatever gruesome appendages they possessed with a killing intent and awaited Viktor to come to them.

The red eyed Englishman cracked his armoured knuckles and cracked his neck from side to side.

"Look out!" one of the soldiers shouted as a creature leapt out of nowhere at Viktor. It was one of the very many tall and lanky creatures with a head resembling a skeletal Stag head, as it screeched and leapt at Viktor, the Black-haired Brit simply stood there, unflinching.

Viktor didn't even turn to look at the creature as he smirked.

In a flash of silver, the creature was sliced in half right down the middle, before it even had the chance to reach Viktor. There, crouching down, gripping his Sword in both hands was none other than Viktor's twin brother Cyrus.

"You really have to stop relying on me to save your arse" Cyrus grinned as he stood up and flourished his sword.

"I had every confidence brother" Viktor smiled as he patted Cyrus on the shoulder.

The two looked towards the hordes of Abyssal creatures of all shapes and sizes, all glaring at the two brothers with unnatural eyes not meant for this world. The twins looked at each other and smirked, Cyrus flourished his sword before engulfing it in flames while Viktor clenched his fists, slowly heating up the metal of his gauntlets to the point where they glowed bright orange.

Now both brothers stood side by side, eyes burning like torches, like predators of the highest calibre.

"I'll take the ones on the left, you take the ones on the right" Viktor nudged Cyrus.

"To hell with that, I want them all" Cyrus nudged back.

"Oh, so it's like that?"

"You bet your arse it's like that" Cyrus got into a two-handed stance.

"Alright then…most kills wins?" Viktor smirked.

"Deal"

"Alright then…" Viktor began to walk with purpose towards the hordes of horrors gathered in front of them.

Both brothers lunged forward, Cyrus clutching his sword and Viktor reaching out with a single glowing hot clawed gauntlet. Both brothers spewing flames from the grills of their visors and fire erupting from their eyes, two words leaving their lips in a demonic tone.

Two words that didn't bode well for the horrors before them.

" **GAME ON!"**

* * *

 **Well I hope you guys all enjoyed that after such a looooooong wait. I will admit I have had a lot on my plate recently, longer shifts at work, my brother's wedding approaching, along with my other hobbies doesn't lend much time to writing, but what the heck! Better late than never eh?**

 **FOR REFERENCE:**

 **Taka's MK2 - for right now, imagine a cross between the Shotgun Iron Man suit and a Gundam, a mix between Western and Eastern Mech designs.** **it doesn't have a colour scheme yet so, don't worry about what colour it is.**

 **Len's Rattler Revolvers – Imagine 1858 Remington revolvers, sort of like the Gunslinger revolvers from the Dark Tower film.**

 **The creatures of the Void that appeared in this chapter and will be appearing in the future chapters, if you need help visualizing them, imagine the following creatures:**

 **Samael from Hellboy**

 **The Jersey Devil from the Wolf Among us**

 **The Creature from the Black Lagoon**

 **Brine and Trench creatures from Aquaman**

 **All around, creatures from the works of H.**

 **So yeah, Avengers vs Lovecraft monsters in what this first arc is about…surprise!**

 **Before you guys ask, yes, I have seen Captain Marvel…my thoughts? Meh…probably my least favourite Marvel film so far (I mean…I could go into a full rant about why I think that but I really don't want to fill up more time preaching) I just hope the Russos fix some of my problems with her character in Endgame.**

 **PLEASE BE SURE TO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THOUGHT IN THE REVIEWS! MAKE EM LENGHTY, MAKE EM DETAILED AND PLEASE BE CIVIL! I LOVE YOU GUYS, AND HOPEFULLY SEE YOU SOON FOR THE NEXT CHAPTER OF AVENGERS ANB.**

 **DAKKAMAN777 SIGNING OUT!**


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